Infrared

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Not strictly electrics I know, but has anyone got any knowledge on the following:

We've all seen the nature programs on the telly, where they film animals & birds in their "natural" habitat, using infrared night cameras. I was wondering, as animals & birds eyes all work in a different way to ours, is direct long term exposure to low level IR potentially damaging to them?

For example: if I wished to set up an IR web cam to monitor my pets (dog, gerbils, cat) could I be doing them harm?
 
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Not an expert but -

No. Your not 'shooting' infra-red at them.
The camera merely records the 'heat' given off by your pets
as does a normal camera with the reflected light.

It is, in any case, just part of the spectrum and there all the time along with all the other parts of the spectrum which we cannot 'see'.

However, you will have to ask the cat's permission. The others won't understand.
 
All warm bodies give off radiation in the infrared part of the spectrum.

Therefore it cannot be harmful at all.

Anything warm at all gives off this radiation.
 
Not an expert but -

No. Your not 'shooting' infra-red at them.
The camera merely records the 'heat' given off by your pets
as does a normal camera with the reflected light.

You're thinking of a thermographic camera, which isn't really the same thing as a CCTV camera with IR illumination, which is what I assume the OP is referring to. In any case, I can't see it posing any risk to your pets.
 
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i have experience of this from my work.

There are 2 types of 'night vision'

Image intensification and infra red spectral ranging.

The type you are referring to is the image intensification method, and not IR imaging.

With infra red ranging, you will not clearly see the object you are viewing as the image or animal will be shown in colours from blue through to red, depending on the temperature of the object. With the image intensification you will clearly see the object you are viewing but the image will have a green hue ( this is the night vision as predominantly used by the military and these nature shows you refer to)

See this page: http://www.garysdetecting.co.uk/night_vision_review.htm

Infra red thermal imaging: http://www.m3inspect.com/thermal_imaging.html

Both methods will not cause any damage. IR imaging merely picks up the radiation already being emitted by an object, where as intensification is taking the available light and amplifying it to a level where we can see it.
 
There are 2 types of 'night vision' ... Image intensification and infra red spectral ranging. The type you are referring to is the image intensification method, and not IR imaging.
I'm not so sure. As electronics UK has indicated, there is a third type, involving IR illumination, and it sounds very much as if that is what the OP is talking about.

However, even IR illumination is not going to do anjy harm - it is, after all, not essentially different from the heat (and IR radiation) emitted by any object.

Kind Regards, John
 
The only downside to infra red illumination is that the iris cannot control the amount of light it lets through, not sure if the close proximity of a IR illuminator is a good idea (>2 meters is recommended here) :

http://www.rayteccctv.com/education-centre.aspx

Complete guide to CCTV lighting page 15.

Certainly when installing CCTV we are very wary of IR emission from LED arrays in fully covert applications.
 
The only downside to infra red illumination is that the iris cannot control the amount of light it lets through, not sure if the close proximity of a IR illuminator is a good idea (>2 meters is recommended here) : http://www.rayteccctv.com/education-centre.aspx.[/QUOTE]
Whilst that is an issue with high powered IR sources, I doubt that it's something to be concerned about in relation to the very modest illumination provided by the sort of webcam the OP appears to be talking about. As the document to which you link says, the rule of thumb is that if one can feel the IR radiation as heat, then one should not look directly at the IR source - but that's surely not going to be the case with a webcam, even pretty close up? I would imagine that far more IR would enter one's eye if one was looking at, say, a nearby CH radiator.

Kind Regards, John.
 
If your that "green" and worried but want to spy on small furry animals use a 0.01 lux camera and a 1 watt light in the background.
the you use little electrickery and can see hammy hump hunny :D
 

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