Video

Infra-Red (IR) Camera

IR is a class of electromagnetic radiation that is broken into regions defined as such:

Near .75 - 1.4um (750-1400nm)

Short Wave 1.4 - 3um

Mid Wave 3 - 8um

Long Wave 8 - 15um

Far 15 - 1000um

The sensors used in consumer grade digital cameras (CMOS - Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor and CCD - Charge Coupled Device) have some capability to detect energy in the near-IR region.  Most cameras come stock with a filter that prevents IR and UV from entering the sensor.  A few cameras have a special mode that actually moves that filter out of the way for IR shots.  For the rest, one has to buy a camera that does not have that filter to begin with or has been modified IE has had the internal Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) filter removed.  Here are two such examples.

IR-2HAD

This camera is specifically designed for surveillance during night time.  It is sensitive to IR and comes with IR LEDs mounted around the camera in a sealed case.  These IR LEDs illuminate the area in front of the camera like a flood lamp allowing the camera to see in total darkness even though a human being would not be able to see the flood of IR energy coming from the LEDs.  Question is can ghosts?  Why would they be susceptible to IR and not visible hmm?  Why would we have to resort to such measures?  Why wouldn't visible light work just as well?  Why must "the lights go out/go dark" but IR doesn't have to I wonder?  At any rate we have this at our disposal.  It is an IR illuminated Black and White lipstick camera that can see in total darkness, the so called 0 lux camera.  I choose the IR-2HAD because I have bought equipment from eyespyvideo before and it was top quality stuff.  And this was no different.  They really know their cameras.

This camera is powered by a 12V DC source and must be recorded by an external recorder.  It can be power by AC mains power or We can also use sealed lead acid batteries when mains isn't available.  The same batteries used in Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPSs).  Specifically the RBC-2A. Shown below.

And this camera only generates the 1941 standard analog National Television System Committee (NTSC) video ouput.  So that means it has to be recorded with something.  We use an ARCHOS AV500.

The AV500 has an internal Hard Disk Drive (HDD) and can digitize any NTSC source, play them back on it's built in LCD, and transfer them to a PC via USB cable.  Pretty cool device actually.  It's what's called a personal or portable Digital Video Recorder Player (DVR/P).  The AV500 has it's own battery but can also be powered from 12V DC.

Broad Spectrum Digital Camera

Modified Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3

This camera has been modified by the professionals at maxmax to have the internal OEM IR and UV filters removed.  Which makes this a broad spectrum camera.  I would not use the word full spectrum camera as it is limited to the inherent spectral sensitivity of it's sensor.  Refer to the chart above.  Once modified, to use the camera for normal visible spectrum, an external filter is attached. Or it can have an external filter for just seeing IR or just seeing UV.  I chose the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3 for a couple of reasons.  One it's fairly inexpensive.  Has really good reviews for low light capability at dpreview.com.  And this is the second one I have owned :).  The first I gave to my father and he loves it though it was a standard OEM model without the internal OEM filters removed and I was amazed at it's low light performance for it's size and cost.  For a mid priced point and shoot, I highly recommend it.  Therefore I choose to have a modified one for broad spectrum use for our paranormal research.  It can shoot stills or movies.

Visible Spectrum Only Cameras