Walking with a homemade infrared camera in the park
Interesting articles about how to take photos in infrared light occasionally slip through the habré. As a rule, they are associated with the modification of the camera, removing the IR filter from it and installing an additional visible light filter. I found these solutions difficult enough to repeat. I wanted to make a simple and affordable device that anyone can make, even a schoolboy with a small budget. Kolkhoz-style, cheap, fun and cheerful - a weekend craft.
What's the idea?
In general, the idea was born during a regular meeting with friends, how different materials in a different range of colors will shine through the fabric. Yes, yes, that's right, if you know what I mean;). But in fact it turned out that looking at the world around us is much more interesting than trying to see underwear through clothes in IR rays (fantasy is better). And somehow he has already become old for such entertainment.
At this gathering we had a CCTV camera that can shoot at night and is sensitive to the infrared range. It gave excellent resolution and so the article might not have appeared, but this camera did not have a light filter that would cut off visible light and leave only IR. In principle, such a filter can be obtained, and those who think about repeating such a craft can look for it at well-known auctions. Therefore, a slightly different path was chosen - it was to take an infrared currency detector and convert it into a similar camera. Moreover, there is everything that is needed for our purposes, and even a display.
Source codes
I bought a Dors 1000 currency detector or similar as the base of the camera . Its cost on message boards is up to a thousand rubles (~ $ 13), in my opinion an excellent amount to play around.
I apologize in advance for the quality of the photo in this chapter, I shot it on an old phone. Now it is no longer possible to reshoot them.
Experimental currency detector
I would like to draw your attention to the fact that there are two types of them: with CRT screens and LCD, and the body and appearance are absolutely the same. If you are not an old school student like me, then you should still choose with an LCD, although all this can be repeated with a CRT screen.
What a CRT IR detector looks like
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You can test it on the Yugoslavian fifty billion times of the civil war.
Feel like a billionaire
Everything works
To make it familiar, I'll show you how our money looks.
Well, that's it, we proceed to disassemble this device, unscrew the screws and a huge amount of empty space appears to our eyes.
Subsoil
By the way, the LCD is in color there, while it was experimentally found that it has all sorts of different buttons (simply, if you fiddle over the contacts on the board, you get a color menu for adjusting the brightness). But, unfortunately, I didn't find normal documentation for this display, so I don't know how to use this functionality.
In general, for the raspberry-lovers a note: this is an excellent ready-made case with a color screen, to which you can connect a raspberry or any other single-board device with a composite video output. You can make an emulator of a set-top box, a smart alarm clock, and a lot of things, there is enough space for everything and even for installing joystick connectors. If you are looking for a case with a display for your craft - pay attention to this solution, it is very cheap.
I take out all the guts from this wonderful body. The camera itself is adjusted and the optics are fixed with a locking screw, so that you can adjust the focus, you need to unscrew this screw. That's it, now you can not only watch currencies, but even take pictures at home.
Clock in IR
It can be seen that many things cannot be seen in IR, but something on the contrary is very good to see.
Assembling the Walking Camera
All this, of course, is fun and cool, but it all works from an external power supply and does not have a recording function at all. Taking pictures of the screen is fun and fun, but it's not a camera. And I want to record, and what kind of recording - to shoot a full-fledged video, and even in such a way that the channel visible to the eye is written in parallel. Tough task, isn't it? But it can be solved and solved quite simply.
The first is an infrared camera in this detector, an ordinary camera that gives a composite black-and-white signal that can be recorded with any video capture card. Moreover, the power supply of the camera is 9-12 volts, with a very small current. I managed to power it from a Krone battery, and capture the signal with the simplest USB video capture.
Ready-made camera for recording
In the photo above, you can see the IR LEDs, which are not needed in our craft and will need to be turned off.
I also wanted to leave the display in order to directly observe what is happening in the infrared rays, and as a result, in debugging mode, I got this kind of device. The photo shows the video capture card, the motherboard, where the power comes in, the display and the camera are connected, and from it we receive the composite video output signal.
After that, even the first tests can be done and a record of what happens. Here is a video of the very first launch, and the very first recording on a conventionally homemade infrared camera.
After that, all the giblets had to be placed somewhere. We remember that our craft is a budget, weekend, so I just bought a polyethylene drain tee 100x40, a 100 plug, and a 40 bend at 45 degrees and placed everything in it. I built a switch into the handle, and attached an IR camera and a regular WEB camera to the cap to record a real image. The display was attached to the back of the panel made of insulation. I took power from a 12-volt battery.
Ready product
Fixing cameras
Fixing the screen
I have a built-in video capture card in a conventional handle and three wires come out of the device: a power wire, a USB wire of a capture card and a USB wire of a WEB-camera. There was no longer enough space for the USB hub.
In general, instead of the display, you could put a viewfinder, which I wrote about here . But it seems to me that looking through the peephole into the pipe from the toilet and walking down the street looks very suspicious, so I decided to leave the screen so that I could show passers-by what I was doing.
Test time!
After everything was built, it was a sin not to make a video recording of the results. I wrote everything using the OBS program. Although the program is designed for video broadcasts, it is quite suitable for this type of task. The first shooting was done at home, so to speak, he ran around the apartment, tried how it would be, convenient or not.
But at home this is all garbage, everyone can shoot on the toilet pipe at night, you try to go out into the street, and so that you are not taken to the durkah. And I did it!
On this walk I was most surprised by the reaction of the people. Imagine, some eccentric, in camouflage, walks with a drain pipe, from which a bunch of wires stick out and goes into a backpack, from the other side he looks into it.
I feel like I looked more like a crazy ghost hunter than an explorer. But everyone did not care, they did not pay any attention to me, as if there were a bunch of such individuals walking the streets.
Walking with a camera in the park
I was most surprised by the unusually white, snowy color of the leaves. This was the most unusual.
What I saw on the screen
In short, it is better to see once than read a thousand times! I tried in every possible way not to photograph people, so that there would be no problems in the future, unless they accidentally fell into the frame. If anyone is involved, then I apologize.
Outcome
As for me, making such things is fun and funny. Helps to distract from routine and to have fun. And if this craft will bring someone even the slightest benefit, it will be cool at all! Don't be afraid to experiment and create.
ZY I want to express my gratitude to everyone who supports my articles with donations. This is very valuable and gives an understanding that I am writing for a reason. Many thanks!
