CVS Nightvision Camcorder

cvs nightvision

Our loyal reader [Everett] has hacked up a CVS single-use camcorder to use as a nightvision scope. This is his second prototype. The first one only had 4 cruddy IR LEDs from Radiohut and a front mounted battery pack. For the second one, he separated the batteries from the camera. He removed the IR filter from the CCD and added 8 higher quality IR LEDs. On the backside of the camera is the eyepiece from a Handycam. It keeps the the LCD screen from leaking light and has a lense to help the eye to focus on the screen. The LCD is to bright to use without adding a dimmer pot. The camera is mounted to a headlamp rig with the batteries on the backside of the head. It may not have the best image quality, but at $35 you can’t go wrong when it comes to nightvision fun.

32 thoughts on “CVS Nightvision Camcorder

  1. i’ll put some screenshots up soon, they’re easy enough to snip right from the dixv videos it takes. depth perception sucks, just like any night vision system. my original idea was to connect a second screen to the same camera, but it would have meant soldering to ridiculously small pins.

  2. i’ll put some screenshots up soon, they’re easy enough to snip right from the dixv videos it takes. depth perception sucks, just like any night vision system. my original idea was to connect a second screen to the same camera, but it would have meant soldering to ridiculously small pins.

  3. I live in Canada, but close to the border, I’ve been meaning to import some CVS cameras for stuff like this. Are there any particular versions to watch out for, or are they all equally hackable?

  4. @imweasel: dead on. You’d need two cameras.

    Take a look at the picture for this thread: shift the original camera over 1cm and you could mount two of ’em on the same rig – one for each eye.

  5. Cool hack!

    A dual version for 3D vision would be awesome, but hard to get right. I used to maintain pilot night vision goggles, and the hardest part was getting the two tubes collimated. If they’re not perfect, it’s extremely headache-inducing.

    This could inspire some silliness, though. If you separated the displays from the cameras, you could increase the intra-ocular distance significantly, which would make you feel like a giant walking around in mini-world.

  6. This is an amazing hack, major props
    I can just picture someone walking around campus with one.
    The brightness adjustment on the LCD was a great idea to add, especialy if one’s vision is going to be dark adjusted when they want to use it.
    I definitly want to try it myself, maybe combind it with a high powered flashlight with a visible light filter.
    G-A-N-G-S-T-A

  7. I like the Idea, but I personally would have stripped the system and buily a custom housing from steel. I would be using it for paintball and Laser Tag out in the woods and It would come in handy, Plus it needs to be water proof. Thank God im an autobody technition. I can build anything out of steel and fiber glass. Then Id give it a camo paint job. Just to make it look cool. Creating custom parts isent hard if you have the materials and the tools. Not to mention the know how to do such a task. And a tip for getting a great looking paint job, Take the parts to a professional shop. They have the expertise and the skill to paint the pieces beautifuly. You may spend a bit of cash. But then again, if its to have a reputation as a modder and a hacker, isent it worth it.

  8. Now I’m wondering how it compares with this: http://www.angelfire.com/80s/sixmhz/infrared.html

    That one’s been on my to-hack list for a very long time. (I’m waiting for MIT SwapFest so I can get the parts for cheap.) Advantage to the scratch hack is that, well, you built it from scratch, which is hardcore, and that you won’t blind yourself with the bright LCD from the CVS camera. Disadvantage is that you may shock yourself with the flyback transformer, and that of course you have to build it from scratch, which takes time and effort.

  9. It looks like you could remove some of the bulk, and do a few other things if you pulled the camera from the case, and possibly re-positioned the LCD display. You could even put the camera up, tap into the battery case for the LEDs (at risk of killing one battery faster), and use mirrors (like a parascope) to allow the camera to see from behind the LCD while being above it or something… Maybe that can be a future version :)

  10. errrr no edit function but like hawkeyeaz1 said (or im just exPanding on his idea)…
    is there any way to have the lcd like in front of your eye while the camera is maybe on your back or something =P(he was, i think saying ‘reduce the bulk’ by having it[camera] like on your head.

    //sry for speaking noob but posting on a ppc is annoying

  11. My friend made an infrared CVS camera a while ago, but oddly enough — doing that with the camera afterwards never crossed our minds. If he still has the camera sitting around, this alteration would take almost nothing more than a head mount…nice idea.

  12. I have a camera on which I completed the hardware hacking, but the software is telling me there’s no known way to unlock my camera. Is anyone else having this problem? What did you do to get around it, if anything?

  13. i am having trouble removing the infrared filter, and i’ve already broken one camcorder (grrr…) i would appreciate someone telling me how to safely remove the filter before i start trying again on my new cam

  14. Hope this is still active. If anyone has done the screen brightness mod, can you link to a picture showing which resistor is removed and where the leads are soldered to? Everett’s tutorial says it’s a 50k but the only 50k resistor I see doesn’t seems to be connected to the backlight power lead. Thanks!

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