New Member

[SikaStag]

Hi to all, from the Scottish borders.

I am 50 years of age on the glorious 12th of August.

My current rifles are. Tikka M55 super sporter .308, Tikka M55 sporter .243, Remington 17Rem with shillen barrel and McMillan stock and my single shot Anshutz .22 rimfire. I reload for all my centre fire rifles.

I have my own Harrisson M300 Lathe that I use to do work on my Rifles. Currently making some jigs to do my own accurizing and re barreling. On the look out for a mill at present.

I decided last week to get my Sony 20E camcorder out and experiment with the nightshot and super nightshot.
Without searching too much into the subject, I purchased a used Lightforce SL170 ir black lens cover on Ebay.
I am thinking it could have been money better spent on an ir illuminator.
My initial tests with this set up quickly showed that the hot spot was too bright in the centre of the beam. I had to hold the bright spot above where I was looking and just use the side glare which gave me a really good image. I then decided to give the Super nightshot a go and was amazed at the quality of the image with no illumination at all.
Unfortunately the camera I have has an odd size thread at the lens end which is 42mm. I searched google but could find any reducers with this thread size.

I would welcome any input into which illuminator would be the best to buy once. I intend to use this for Rabbits and Foxes.

I had thought about getting a NS200 but I decided against.

Looking forward to learning from you all on the Forum.

Cheers

[silent shooter]

Hi SikaStag and welcome to the forum,im sure there will soon be members along to help you out with your questions.
There are plenty of good blokes on the forum more than willing to help others,im quite new myself to nv so will leave it to the experts

atb Geoff

[PESCA]

Hello sir, and welcome to our little forum.

Have a good read through the existing posts, as a lot of the threads are relative to camcorders.

Please feel free to come back with any more questions, as it's all a minefield out there. Initial thoughts are that your camcorder may well be lacking when it comes to distance work, but then again, I don't know at what distances you try and take your quarry. You'll be aware that you need to build in a lot of leeway so that you are able to check for backstops at night.

Cheers.
George

[SikaStag]

Thanks for your replies guys.

Its hard where I live to find ground that has no back stop. There is 2000 acres of high hills. The house sits at the end of a valley, nearest neighbour is 3 miles away further back down the valley. Not in line of sight.

I forgot to mention that my ir cover seems not to reflect light from the eyes of animals. At least nothing like the eyes that I see that look like headlights shining back at you in the Youtube videos that I have looked at.

I was looking at the Sheep in the field in front of the house, I could see their bodies but no full beam reflective eye shine from them.

Cheers

[sidesy]

hello from a fellow newbie

[Fox Hunter]

Thanks for your replies guys.

Its hard where I live to find ground that has no back stop. There is 2000 acres of high hills. The house sits at the end of a valley, nearest neighbour is 3 miles away further back down the valley. Not in line of sight.

I forgot to mention that my ir cover seems not to reflect light from the eyes of animals. At least nothing like the eyes that I see that look like headlights shining back at you in the Youtube videos that I have looked at.

I was looking at the Sheep in the field in front of the house, I could see their bodies but no full beam reflective eye shine from them.

Cheers

Hello SS, you tend to find the more nocternal creatures like rabbits,rats and foxes eyes reflect a lot more than sheep. The sheep's eyes do reflect but if you are trying to look a fair distance you do need a powerful IR illuminator to light them up. The camcorder needs loads of concentrated IR so your lamp and IR filter 'may' not be giving you the brightness for the camcorder to reflect the sheeps eyes at distance(they also need to be looking in your direction, they don't look at the IR beam like a lamp). There's a bright moon about lately too and that doesn't do IR illuminators any favours distance wise. There are far more knowledgeable camcorder enthusiasts on here than me but for maximum distance with a camcorder the N1000 IR laser is about your best bet .

[SikaStag]

There is very few Rabbits on the farm, if you go out and see one your doing well.
Sheep are my only guide line to check out the set up.
Once I get everything the way I want it to be, I have other permissions that I will have plenty Rabbit shooting.

Hill Foxes are not as abundant as lowland foxes. Still, you shoot one and two come to the funeral and take up residence.

My camera is a pretty big camera compared to some that I have seen being used. I was thinking of changing it for a smaller one. Or should I be thinking of a dedicated night vision outfit.
I looked at the Pulsar but found that it gets slated a lot as not being any good. I think the illuminator is the important thing to get right. I would welcome any opinions from members as to what they would buy if the funds were available. I aint talking silly money. within the working mans budget.
I see Nitesites coming up on Ebay regularly. Why is this,if they are as good as people say then why get rid of them.
I also see a lot of Pulsar night vision scopes for sale on Ebay just now. Are they flogging these to buy Nitesites.

I disabled the onboard ir illumination on my cam and went out last night into the yard to have a wee look, with no illumination of any kind and the camera set to super nightshot, I could see for an amazing distance. I could count the sheep in the field, that I could not see with the naked eye.

I am running my Broadband usage down watching Youtube videos.

Cheers

[Fox Hunter]

There is very few Rabbits on the farm, if you go out and see one your doing well.
Sheep are my only guide line to check out the set up.
Once I get everything the way I want it to be, I have other permissions that I will have plenty Rabbit shooting.

Hill Foxes are not as abundant as lowland foxes. Still, you shoot one and two come to the funeral and take up residence.

My camera is a pretty big camera compared to some that I have seen being used. I was thinking of changing it for a smaller one. Or should I be thinking of a dedicated night vision outfit.
I looked at the Pulsar but found that it gets slated a lot as not being any good. I think the illuminator is the important thing to get right. I would welcome any opinions from members as to what they would buy if the funds were available. I aint talking silly money. within the working mans budget.

I see Nitesites coming up on Ebay regularly. Why is this,if they are as good as people say then why get rid of them.
I also see a lot of Pulsar night vision scopes for sale on Ebay just now. Are they flogging these to buy Nitesites.

I disabled the onboard ir illumination on my cam and went out last night into the yard to have a wee look, with no illumination of any kind and the camera set to super nightshot, I could see for an amazing distance. I could count the sheep in the field, that I could not see with the naked eye.

I am running my Broadband usage down watching Youtube videos.

Cheers

Sheep are usually white so not the best way to guage the capabilities of the nv but fine for setting up as you say.

There's a bright moon about, chances are you would have seen a fair bit with a decent dayscope. Put your camera behind a dayscope and you'll loose loads of that light and super night shot doesn't work the same when it's behind a dayscope unfortunately.

I know exactly what you mean about hill foxes, they are not as dull usually either, Im living on the side of a Welsh mountain.

It depends what you want nv for, you'd need something like a N1000 IR laser with a challenger but if it's foxing you mainly want it for you may be dissapointed with your camcorder or a challenger. Once you get into nv you want the next best thing, don't rush into a purchase, it's usually better to save that little bit more. Dedicated scopes for foxing can be expensive most go for a decent monoculor that can be used as an add on with a dayscope but using it behind a scope cuts down it's light gathering abilities massively so you still need an IR illuminator.

I've never used a nitesite so I couldn't comment, some people don't get on with the heads up position other's take to it instantly. They don't appeal to me in the slightest but neither does anything digital YET. The pulsar 550's are for sale because they are cashing them in before the new model comes out shortly therefore greatly reducing their value.



As for youtube it's research, it's enjoyable and can be very revealing and informative but again some vids need a pinch of salt.


You need to mount the camcorder, let this moon go and then get out and use it. My guess is you'll have fun on rabbits and want something that little bit better, those Scottish hills are rather vast .

[SikaStag]

Thanks
Very informative post. Just what I was looking for. Than you.

Living in a Valley that has very steep hills all around was still pretty dark last night to the naked eye even with a moon behind cloud.
My intentions is to use whatever I get, on Foxes mainly, Rabbits secondly and Rats at a neighbouring chicken farm.
I need to try find out what the new Pulsar models capabilities are.

Cheers

[Fox Hunter]

There are a few new nv products coming out over the next few months, hold off for a while until they are tried and tested. There should be enough competition to keep prices relatively reachable for most. See how you get on with the camcorder but when it's on a scope you'll definitely benifit from an IR laser for distance over the lamp and if you do decide to purchase an nv unit in future you'll still need the IR illuminator but get a variable power model because at close range you won't need full power and if using a tubed nv unit will drastically reduce it's life.