IR Flashlight

As you can tell by my post count, I'm new to the forum, and frankly, REALLY new to the world of flashlight modding. For most of my life my basis for buying a light has been "Hey, THAT looks sturdy." or "Well, my buddy said it's a good light."

What I'm looking into at the moment, and hoping for suggestions to, is a dedicated (and hopefully cost efficient) IR flashlight to use in conjuction with the camcorder my wife bought me for christmas (a Sony DCR DVD-308 for those interested). It has this night shot mode that is decent on it's own, but I'm hoping to find a suitably powered IR light to suppliment this in situations where slightly longer distance night shooting is preferrable.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

:welcome::twothumbs Welcome Captain.
Start off by looking at the Inova X5 with IR led's.
Not that I know much about IR BTW.

Most incandescent flashlights plus a IR filter will probably do that job much better than some weakly 5 mm LEDs.

I think a neat, high-performance video light could be home-built with not much more than an experimenter's PCB and a bunch of IR LEDs. Standard IR LEDs are generally considered high-output in the realm of IR-sensitive cameras. 20 of them on a PCB would be a "barn burner." Put it in a Rat Shack project box with a rectangular Edmund Scientific optical window... that'd be sweet. The output would probably be smooth and floody.

scott.cr said:

I think a neat, high-performance video light could be home-built with not much more than an experimenter's PCB and a bunch of IR LEDs. Standard IR LEDs are generally considered high-output in the realm of IR-sensitive cameras. 20 of them on a PCB would be a "barn burner." Put it in a Rat Shack project box with a rectangular Edmund Scientific optical window... that'd be sweet. The output would probably be smooth and floody.

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More details on that, and a linked shopping list!
Not my thread, but I will build myself one if you can point me to the parts.

scott.cr said:

I think a neat, high-performance video light could be home-built with not much more than an experimenter's PCB and a bunch of IR LEDs. Standard IR LEDs are generally considered high-output in the realm of IR-sensitive cameras. 20 of them on a PCB would be a "barn burner." Put it in a Rat Shack project box with a rectangular Edmund Scientific optical window... that'd be sweet. The output would probably be smooth and floody.

Click to expand...

I'm figuring somewhere in the realm of 3 to 5 LEDs. Just something to boost the range a bit, cause honestly, I won't be shooting anything with the camera that my actual eyes or ears can't identify.

Although I do admit to a certain Tim Taylor, Home Improvement maniacal laughter in my head about the 20 LED barn-burner. (I'll probably not feel the same way when my camcorder's light apature fries, but oh well...HAHAHA!!!)

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'm gonna start looking up parts and see if I think my skill level matches with what you've suggested.

CaptWolf said:

...What I'm looking into at the moment, and hoping for suggestions to, is a dedicated (and hopefully cost efficient) IR flashlight to use in conjuction with the camcorder my wife bought me for christmas (a Sony DCR DVD-308 for those interested). It has this night shot mode that is decent on it's own, but I'm hoping to find a suitably powered IR light to suppliment this in situations where slightly longer distance night shooting is preferrable.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Click to expand...

Is $10.00 delivered to your door cost efficient enough?

10 dollar 12 led IR flashlight

LumenHound said:

Is $10.00 delivered to your door cost efficient enough?

10 dollar 12 led IR flashlight

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$10 is much less than I was expecting to have to fork out, so it makes me tingle in ways that usually require my wife to be involved.

I'll have to admit it's along ways from $10, but don't forget the SF M1, a dedicated IR flashlight designed for uses just like yours.

(It's just not a CPF thread if SureFire isn't mentioned at least once!):devil:

CaptWolf said:

$10 is much less than I was expecting to have to fork out, so it makes me tingle in ways that usually require my wife to be involved.

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:twothumbs Well if the money is burning a hole in your pocket you can dish out $1600 or more and get an professional video security IR illuminator. These guys have a bunch beginning at $109. These things will light up a football field with invisible IR.

http://www.surveillance-video.com/incam.html

http://www.surveillance-video.com/exsuledsesui.html

LumenHound said:

Is $10.00 delivered to your door cost efficient enough?

10 dollar 12 led IR flashlight

Click to expand...

10 buks seems a bit expensive, you may almost have two of these at that price here:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2047

This security website sells many under 100, some of the better ones just under 200 and boast some impressive stats. Ive bought equipment for my boss there many times and its a great company, but I cannot personaly vouch for the IR Illuminators they sell :/
http://www.scdlink.com/Accessories.cfm?secondary=66

MiniLux said:

10 buks seems a bit expensive, you may almost have two of these at that price here:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2047

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Yes, I've seen that before.
I specifically excluded DX because of their much slower than average shipping and poor communication.
I've done business with them in the past and will likely do so in the future but I wouldn't recommend them to someone just starting out.
Caveat Emptor.

The ebay page you linked is shipping from hong kong as well, so I don't think they'll be much different.

jzmtl said:

The ebay page you linked is shipping from hong kong as well, so I don't think they'll be much different.

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They couldn't be any slower, that's for darn sure.

There seems to be a good number of quick shipping type coments in their 99.9% positive feedback.

Definitely appreciate all these great suggestions you guys! Thanks for making a newbie feel welcome.

Cheap Ebay IR filter for 6P, or Krill makes their IR sticks. Anyone remember Krill, I just barely do myself!

Sgt. LED said:

Cheap Ebay IR filter for 6P, or Krill makes their IR sticks. Anyone remember Krill, I just barely do myself!

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I remember when I got one either as a birthday or christmas gift thinking to myself that I'm glad that I didn't spend money on it.

scott.cr said:

I think a neat, high-performance video light could be home-built with not much more than an experimenter's PCB and a bunch of IR LEDs. Standard IR LEDs are generally considered high-output in the realm of IR-sensitive cameras. 20 of them on a PCB would be a "barn burner." Put it in a Rat Shack project box with a rectangular Edmund Scientific optical window... that'd be sweet. The output would probably be smooth and floody.

Click to expand...

Could I get a listing of items and where online to find them? I really like this idea and would love to try my hand at building one.

I have access to broken tv remotes with IR lights in them. you could build a board full of them pretty cheap.