Squiffy 0 Posted June 7, 2009 I've a cheap and cheerful IR LED illuminator which is adequate for my requirements except I'd prefer it to have a wider angle, as it's quite a narrow spot beam. Experimenting with magnifying lenses over the front of it works quite well but I would think there's a slightly better solution. As this is just a DIY home installation I'm not worried if it just means simply taping a lens on the front of it but I'll be interested to hear what others have tried or would suggest. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scorpion 0 Posted June 8, 2009 Point it at a disco mirror ball! Point it up in to a tree, and let the foliage bounce it back down. Set it 90 degrees from the camera. In other words the illuminator is to the left of view screen, and the light shines to the right of the view screen. This will give you the "wide" angle effect. Which do you prefer?? I prefer the disco ball!! LOL! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zmxtech 0 Posted June 8, 2009 ah I have the answer for that one, just use some diffuser from an old fluro light -works wonders on IR. Instead of white-out on subjects you`ll have nice contrast. z Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sawbones 0 Posted June 8, 2009 That one on the right can be adjusted from spot to flood. There's a little set screw on the side, and the IR element inside moves forward or backward relative to that lens assembly you see on the end. Move it forward for wider angle, or backward for narrow beam. They're cheap on Ebay... 40-50 bucks or so. Just do a search for "IR illuminator"... you'll see all sorts of different versions (some of the higher-powered ones are about $100). The lower-powered ones get significantly warm during operation, so I don't know how much I'd trust the high-powered ones not to burn out on you. Just a thought. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Squiffy 0 Posted June 8, 2009 I love the disco ball solution! Although preperable to have them mounted in separate locations, I've already mounted the illuminator on top of the box camera, which reduces my options. I considered diffusion but don't have anything suitable to experiment with that at the moment. The one I have is even cheaper than the ones mentioned on eBay, it has a glass cover which could be replaced with some kind of lens, assuming I could find something suitable. It also gets very warm during operation and could probably benefit with a couple of diodes in series with the 12V to drop the voltage slightly. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Biphase 0 Posted August 15, 2009 piece of material, small circle holes across it...something to diffuse it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Numb-nuts 1 Posted February 7, 2011 Point it at a disco mirror ball! Point it up in to a tree, and let the foliage bounce it back down. Set it 90 degrees from the camera. In other words the illuminator is to the left of view screen, and the light shines to the right of the view screen. This will give you the "wide" angle effect. Which do you prefer?? I prefer the disco ball!! LOL! Then you can record someone stealing your disco ball. lol Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
