Just seen this on Reddit and was wondering what NV produces this image and where to get one-

http://i.imgur.com/jJ59S0P.gifv

It's not night vision in the I2 sense. It's a camera, with video capability, that has a stupid high ISO range that goes to what looks like about 2 million.

I think the Doc is right. The manufacturer touts these as the end all/do all but I don't think they are available in a man-potable configuration. Some people laugh at the camera-based technology because it's not I² but I think that may change in the next several years when this technology miniaturizes.

There are other camera-based systems that are helmet mountable but they do not perform to this level - or even to the level of modern Gen 3 (probably not even modern Gen 2).

Crazy. I hope they make capable goggles with something like this soon.

They do.

Armasight and ATN tend to sell that kind of stuff. It's off the shelf.

Performance is similar to Gen1. 

As CJ noted, lots of cheap versions are out there. However, they are working on better systems for the military, like these from Intevac.

Ahh, those ones from Intevac are the good stuff but... They actually work pretty well - about the same as older Gen3. Not quite as good as the best stuff though - and not color either.

All the color stuff is the camera-only technology, while the Intevac system uses Gallium Arsenide photocathodes and an electron-bombarded sensor, that doubles as a SWIR camera.

KingRollo did say "capable" though. I doubt he would be impressed by any of the Armasight or ATN camera-based offerings.

Hmmm. Capable doesn't necessarily mean that you need something for 50 microlux viewing... Night illumination levels are a huge spread with one night varying from the other by over 10000x the difference. This is where the whole digital concept falls down, but it doesn't mean they aren't capable.

Image intensifiers have a massive capability to deal with light levels that we don't notice. The entire range of a typical high-end NOD can be utilised from 1 to 100 microlux, then it can go and provide exactly the same screen brightness from 0.1 to 1 lux, and the image is almost the same... That's an incredible difference..  And we never notice it, so it's easy to start to think all night time illumination levels are similar when you have a good set of NODs.

On the other hand, digital may only work in the millilux ranges, but it's not without it's uses. Firstly, some stuff can do color, some does a mix of color and B&W and some is just monochrome - and this is at the camera stage before we get to EBCMOS or EBAPS or similar.

That doesn't make it useless - it just means you have to understand the technology.

Meanwhile X20 who made those videos is probably *the* best known company for making deceptive NV pics and images - They are probably only second to ATN there. If you see anything from them, don't believe it. At best, they may have carefully selected the conditions, and it's probably a nicely diffused full-moon night and you could quite happily walk around and see some color even with your eyes. Sure, it's dark, but never believe anything you see from X20

But even then, there's still a market and purpose for low-light color video equipment. And some of the newer stuff is pretty good - Getting a color image at Gen1 amplification levels is actually a pretty big deal.

Also there's more serious head-mounted color NV that uses filters and white phosphor NODs and that stuff is quite advanced and copes with low light. Not as low as monochrome NV, but still nothing to turn your nose up at...

Color NV is good, and it's getting better all the time, but the same basic physics apply to all NV and color is no different. If you struggle to get enough photons to give you a monochrome image, and you're working with a range of photons across the entire visible band and IR, then you're going to loose an awful lot of light when you put a narrowband filter in front to limit it to just red/blue/green - possibly over 90% of the available light.

And that's before you take into consideration that GaAs isn't exactly the best photocathode to detect blue to begin with...

@cj7hawk

What do you think the most capable head-mounted camera-based unit from Armasight is? I would be willing to take a look but I'm not willing to sift through the garbage.

Your elaborations and side-notes are appreciated.

To be fair, unless you're intending to use it urban or on moonlit nights, you'd probably find all current camera based systems unsuitable... Except maybe SWIR, but that's monochrome.

For head mounted, you'd need to go with their clip-on for digital - the monoculars have too much magnification. So you'd only get 10 degrees FOV (another problem with digital...)

For ATN, they do have some dedicated digital monoculars, but don't ask me what they use.

I spoke to both a couple of years ago, and they were developing the tech. Mostly it's good for hunters and, as I mentioned, is about Gen1 quality, so is expected to be used with active IR on dark nights. 

We're probably just a few years out from commercial Gen3-quality digital systems - but Gen3 will be cheaper for a while yet. The new systems won't be color either.

And if it's color you want? Maybe try one of these: https://www.ammoland.com/2017/01/colortac-the-night-vision-clip-on/#axzz4ddEvT1ih

I don't know how well that works though - you'd have to ask Vic. Maybe he will chime in here?