Hello all,
This discussion on nightvision equipment is of interest to me as I've
recently ordered the very same device that David Adams mentions, ie the
"Yukon Digital Night Ranger 5x42" to see if it will be of use with my
work on owls. Where I am interested in it is with watching owls without
having to use a spotlight. I have no problems with spotlights but if you
are interested in seeing any natural owl behaviour, well you probably
aren't going to get it if you have a spotlight on the bird.
Once I've got it and have given it a bit of a burl I'll report on it if
people are interested. I think Stephen Ambrose has basically summarised
the night vision caper. You can spend a lot of money, say 10-20 K. Also
many of the devices cannot be sent overseas, ie they are only for
purchase within the US. Also there seem to be many devices that can be
fitted to cameras but I have no further knowledge of this aspect.
Just on masked owls, the Australian Geographic Fundraiser has now
finished. It raised $12,900 for my project which will be very helpful
towards the various costs. Thanks to anyone who contributed. I probably
owe you a masked owl viewing in the future!
Cheers
Mick Todd
Michael Todd
Wildlifing: Images of Nature: www dot wildlifing dot com
Latest Images: Orange-bellied Parrot, Beautiful Firetail, Fieldwren
PhD Candidate- Tasmanian Masked Owl
School of Zoology, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 05, Hobart, Tasmania 7001
Mobile: 0458 394676
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Message: 2
Date: Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:11:36 +1000
From: "David Adams" <>
Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Spotlighting thoughts and advice
To: "birding aus" <>
Message-ID:
<>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
On Wed, Jul 23, 2008 at 1:56 PM, Peter Shute <> wrote:
Some questions about the monocular:
- do things like birds stand out against foliage, or is it just like
looking for them in daylight? Do their eyes glow at all?
- could it be enhanced by the use of an infrared spotlight?
- what sort of cost?
- what magnification?
I should add that I've recently bought a different night-vision
monocular called the "Yukon Digital Night Ranger 5x42" after reading
up on night vision gear for the last few years. This particular unit
is digital, as the name says. What that means is that you're not using
a special phosphorescing tube - like all of those green night images
you seen. Instead, the unit uses a chip like those found in modern
camcorders for nighttime shooting. While it is a monocular, the unit
looks like a binocular because there's an IR spotlight to provide
supplemental illumination. I bought the unit in the US (I go once a
year) as things are cheaper there. At just under $400, this was a
pretty extravagant purchase...but I decided to give it a gamble. At
the end of the day, I don't regret it but I think it's important to
understand the limits and benefits of such a device. I've found little
to no discussion of night-vision gear for wildlife viewing, so I'll
contribute a few points for anyone that's interested.
First off, several points about night vision in general:
* Night-vision is military technology and much of it is restricted.
Consequently, it's almost true that if you can afford it, it isn't
worth buying ;-)
* Depending on the 'generation', night-vision gear is treated as
munitions and is not always legal to carry in and out of various
countries.
* Traditional night-vision gear can be a bit fussy. The tubes are
delicate and can't be used in the daytime, for example.
* There seems to be little effort to market night-vision gear to the
wildlife watching community. Instead, it's marketed to hunters,
security professionals, and people interested in "home protection" (?)
So, I didn't get a lot of first-hand reports from people regarding
what this gear is like in the real world when your aim is to look at
animals in the dark. Below are my impressions from using the unit,
some of which probably apply more broadly to night-vision gear in
general:
* Yes, it's pretty remarkable - you really can see things in the dark.
With the IR spotlight on, you can light up things that are otherwise
absolutely invisible.
* Since it's a monocular, the entire image is flattened. It's fairly
hard to find things through a monocular with a "flat" image. This
makes the unit hard to use in dense foliage where you really need as
much depth perception as possible.
* My unit is fixed focus as x5, which is a decent magnification to
pick if you have to pick one. You can turn the IR spotlight on and off
and adjust its brightness. You can also tune the fine-focus a bit and
adjust the gain. I didn't find it hard to learn.
* Even without a light, animals don't necessarily like people. I
encountered a Brush-tail Possum that was Most Definitely Displeased
that I was around. So, it's not spotlighting alone that is disruptive
to the animals - sometimes it's being there at all.
* If you've got a decent torch and decent binoculars, you can see
animals in nearby trees a lot more clearly than through the unit I've
got. On the other hand, torch light does disturb the animals more and
isn't a big help with extremely light-shy animals. Another plus of the
integrated IR approach is that you don't have to fiddle with keeping
the light and your binoculars along the same line.
* The unit is excellent when you're looking over a more open area,
such as a meadow or paddock. In this case, the results are much better
than using a spotlight. You can see for relatively long distances and
don't seem to worry the animals at all.
* I wandered around in the woods at night for hours as a kid without a
torch, as I'd guess a lot of you did too. What you learn is that after
about 10 (?) minutes, you can see a lot with dark-adapted eyes. You
can see movement, contrast, and a lot more. The down-side of using
night-vision gear like mine is that you're effectively staring into a
lightbulb. The result is that you lose your dark adaptation.
* This is the only unit I've tried so other units may have other pros
and cons. One "pro" of this unit is that it's said to have very high
quality images for non-munitions grade gear. I wanted a unit I can
take over national borders without any sort of hassle.
So, with all of that said, I'll list some times when I think
night-vision gear of this quality is useful:
* In situations where it is undesirable, wrong, or illegal to use a
torch/spotlight. =
* When you're staking out a hollow and don't want to disturb or spook
the animal. (Lesser Sooty Owl anyone?) The unit I've got (and most I
read about) has a tripod mount, so you can get yourself into position
and wait.
* When you're looking out over a relatively open area where animals
pass through. This might be a field or it might be cleared understory.
For example, more mature rainforest often has clear understory that
would be pretty great for this unit, I suspect.
* When you want to observe animals for some time without bothering them much.
* When you're looking at light-shy animals.
One way I think about the night-vision gear is that it's pretty good
for *seeing* animals but it's not the best tool for *finding* animals.
That's why I'm in the market for a torch - eye-shine is a great way to
find animals. From there, you can switch over to the night vision if
you have it.
I'd be very keen to hear from anyone else using any sort of
night-vision gear to watch animals. I know there's a woman up around
Byron running walking tours with night-vision goggles but haven't
spoken to anyone whose done the tour.
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