Thread: NiteMaxx digital night vision camera

I gave that connection a try, but it doesn't solve the problem, unfortunately.. IT is definitely in the right area, though. When I intitally connect it, it causes a vertical shift in the image to a random position on the screen, and then continutes to roll.

An error I made earlier, when I thought I was outputing 60hz vertical to the screen, powerstrip was still controling the refresh rates (windows rates were disabled) so while I thought it was eating up 60hz, it was actually taking in a touch under 30.

Still scrolling. :P


(Notice how readable that text is?? 640x480 on a 2.5" screen, and its actually readable! (The insanity!)

Originally Posted by kornkow

I just got my lenses in the mail from (GESS) ebay yesterday! The camera is amazing! I got a 2.5mm F1.4, 2.8mm F1.4 (this one though I will have to adjust by backing out the two black screws in order to get it focused), and a 4mm F1.2 lens. the 2.5 and 4 looked great immediately. Yeah, ebay shipping does suck for something like this thats why I bought three lenses. I'm not sure which one I like best though. Wouldn't these be better than F1.6 (the ones youre trying to get) Mark?

Yes, f/1.4 should be better than f/1.6. I found that the f/1.6 lenses worked better than the number predicted.

Would you mind posting a picture of these lenses? I'd like to see how big the actual lens on the front is and how tall the whole lens body is. (I don't trust the pictures in the auction listings because I've noticed that some of them are wrong!)

For a given focal-length (like 2.5mm) the lens with the larger glass area should have a better f-number. I'm wondering if yours actually have bigger glass glass than the ones I've seen.

NiteMaxx Accessories Master List

Lens
dtran01
at_b (2-3)
turner brown
bash1979

Battery
dmurray14

Charger
dmurray14

Here's my vote for a decent lens (f/1.4) that most can afford (~$10.00) and it is adjustable to accomodate different needs. (3.5mm - 8mm)

eBay Auction Link

that looks nice, how many of us do we need to be in the list to start the group buy?
also, since that seller has a big selection of lens, could we also get this model+a different one from there(i for one am interested in one of the lenses to have the fov bigger than 95 so i can use it in the back of the car)...just an idea
thanks mark for doing this for us

Yes, no problem, I will try to post pictures of the three lenses when I get home tonight.

Hi Mark,

I got a 4mm f/1.6 lens and the picture is very very blury. You can hardly recognize any object. Any suggestions ? there is no display on lcd for night vision mode. Of course the lcd is working and I tried increading the gain for IR as well as contrast for LCD.

Here is the lens.

Thx

http://cgi.ebay.com/4MM-4-MM-CCTV-Ca...QQcmdZViewItem

try reading what mark recommended on pg 16

In the picture there's a silver post for locking the focus in one place. Adjacent to this post are two black phillips-head screws that are flush with the lens body. (One is barely visible.)
..........
It turns out that the two black screws could be backed out almost all the way and this would remove the stop. All I had to do was lift up the screws far enough to let the stop mechanism pass by and then re-tighten them once I had turned it past. The effect was that I re-calibrated the lens by adding one turn worth of adjustment at one end of the focus range at the expense of one turn at the other end of the range.

Originally Posted by 0-0-7

Hi Mark,

I got a 4mm f/1.6 lens and the picture is very very blury. You can hardly recognize any object. Any suggestions ? there is no display on lcd for night vision mode. Of course the lcd is working and I tried increading the gain for IR as well as contrast for LCD.

Here is the lens.

Thx

http://cgi.ebay.com/4MM-4-MM-CCTV-Ca...QQcmdZViewItem

I agree with what korn kow said! I've used the 16mm version of this lens and they do work -- some needed the adjustment.

It does worry me that you say the focus is so terrible bad because that wasn't the case for me. At the risk of asking stupid questions, let me list the things that might be going wrong...

- The silver stud sticking out is for locking down the focus. You'll need to unscrew it and rotate the outer body of the lens to focus.

- Sometimes the lens gets jammed when you screw it into the camera body because you're actually applying force to the focus adjustment. If you can't rotate the endmost part of the lens while the part next to the NiteMax stays stationery, then it is jammed. You'll need to remove the lens from the NiteMax and twist the two parts in the "unscrew" direction to get them loose again.

- Even if you can't adjust the focus, you should be able to have objects in focus that are extremely close or extremely far. Can you see an object that's a few inches from the lens?

- For testing, you can extend the focus adjustment range by unscrewing the whole lens from the NiteMax. In fact, you can hold the lens a few millimeters in front of the CCD and get it to focus if it is way off. What you can't do is get the lens CLOSER to the CCD once it is screwed all the way in.

Remember: The lens WILL focus when the CCD is at exactly the correct distance from the lens. A standard lens is expected to be a standard distance away from the CCD and this is what the CS designation is for. Not all things are equal and this is why lenses have a range of adjustment for focus. By playing with the distance between the CCD and the lens, we're trying to see which direction things are off by and by how much. Once we understand where the lens needs to be, we can make adjustements accordingly.

- There's no Night Vision Mode -- it's always in the same mode. If you can see, the camera can see! If you can't see anything with your eyes (it's dark) the camera can't either. The camera can see IR. If you can't see and the camera can't see, turn on the IR -- you still won't see but the camera will.