DIY iSight night vision camera

@PlanetaryGear you can remove the coating by soaking in warm water and detergent, but I would recommend removing the filter and setting it aside, in case you should ever want to go back. I've done this with a number of cameras, including a Sony Cybershot and non-Apple/Logitech webcam, and there has never been a focusing issue. With my webcam, it had an optical glass lens that I could use to easily adjust focus and with the cybershot, well everything just worked. And the nice thing about not destroying the filter is you can always go back without having to locate spare parts.

As for why Apple, and any other manufacturer, would put in a filter...look at the fiasco with the Sony night shot cam mentioned earlier. Also, without the filter, the red end of the spectrum becomes saturated and your pictures look very odd. The filter enables the CMOS/CCD sensor to reproduce an image closer to your eye produces, which I think is a good thing, not short sightedness.

I have one right here waiting for a good use and this sounds like it. But my problem is that I used up all my h2so4 just the other day on an abortive attempt at establishing a world government. Is there anything else that might dissolve the coating? Acetone? methyl ethy ketone? benzine? diethyl ether? flurodichloroethane? dimethyl sulfoxide? or perhaps carbon tetrachloride? I'm running low on the more exotic stuff, but would any of that work?

@ can I do it with ...

Just try shining any IR remote into the camera while taking a picture and pressing some button on the remote. If your camera is capable of making IR pictures, you'll see a rather bright dot from the remote on the resulting picture (or video). If you don't see the dot, you'll have to use a different camera.

Sounds good, but technically not the same as what you'd think of when you mention Nightvision. Nightvision goggles have a photomultiplier tube that amplifies even the dimmest beam of light before it hits a phosphor screen (hence the green light). However, this trick uses no amplification and so is limited by the amount of IR in a given room. It's still very cool though, given how cheap and easy it is.

Cool.
I just setup a Sony EyeToy we stopped using with our Mac Mini HTPC in our living room. So we could check in with little doggie when we're out.

But I couldn't find a reliable app. The best I found was Fring for the iPhone. I had to setup a Skype account for the Mac, and use my Skype login for my iPhone in Fring. Then download the Fring app. And then I could Skype video chat in Fring. So when I video call the Mini I see EyeToy. But Fring is only one-way video chat. It works well, but only over Wifi.

iCam looks good though.
Fring is free but limited, I like how iCam works on EDGE and 3G.
If I use my EyeToy enough or add more cameras then I would def. get iCam.

Great article. Well done.

couldn't you have just removed the glass block instead of burning off its anti-IR coating? then when you want it to be normal, reverse the hack and pop it back in.

sorry if this is an obviously stupid question. from the pictures it's not immediately apparent what the glass block actually accomplishes here.

I think the mod is cool but given that my daughter is almost 8, I’m less in need of a baby cam. Oddly enough, starting on her first day home, we found she came equipped with a charmingly powerful ability to project her need for attention.

Regarding the IR Filter, almost every digital sensor has one, (I think.) At one point Canon introduced an "Astro" version of a DSLR, as so many people shooting the stars were having the IR filter removed. I think Wendy Carlos had one, as she is into shooting and traveling to see a solar eclipse anywhere on the planet.

I came across a Canon hacking site, primarily dedicated to making amazing mods to both software & hardware on small cameras. I mention this because there was a lot of attention paid to improving low light performance. On a strange side note, Sony had a popular small video camera great that was great for low light using IR. It was cool because one could remove the IR filter by flipping a switch. It was a great “no-light” camera. However it was recalled after Sony became aware that a lot of pervy men & women were buying the camera because of its IR sensitivity. Apparently, in certain lighting conditions, with certain types of clothing, the camera can "see through" clothes. Apparently, Sony thought it was counterproductive to service the pervo market segment given the makeup of their customers as a group.

You might want to check out www.eye.fi makers of SD / WiFi cards that install in any camera. Combined with the various software hacks, you can turn an old point & shoot camera into a motion sensitive camera that can send you an 'alarm' or just keep an eye open 24/7.

Sorry if this seems a little off topic but with all the new Macs having an SD slot and the ability to put together a very sophisticated 'survalience' tool for almost nothing, it seemed like it might be of interest.

One last thought, if your not into the 'making it happen' vibe, you can jut go buy a wireless webcam from Logitech or Linksys which both have motion sensitive, low light feature's.

Can we get some demo pictures to see how it works?

Will this work with Logitech cameras?

How long does the battery last on the IR source?

Will this work on a regular digital camera if you wanted to turn it into an iR camera?