I don't remember why I did it, but I pointed a remote at a digital camera and the light from the remote was visible. Why does it show up on a digicam? And since infrared will show up on a digital camera, does that mean that if I had a strong enough infrared source I could shoot in complete darkness with a regular digicam and no flash?
2007-02-07 11:04:34 · 2 answers · asked by just_some_college_guy1985 1 in Consumer Electronics ➔ Cameras
The light shows up because the camera lens contains functionality to use the infrared spectrum. Usually, the software will bring things that cannot be seen by the naked eye into spectrum.
Yes, you can use an infrared source to shoot in complete darkness, but I don't advise it to be real strong. A lot of camcorders have infrared LED's that you can switch on in the dark and see through the camera.
2007-02-07 11:09:25 · answer #1 · answered by Eric W 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Cool, isn't it? I keep showing this trick to my friends, who are fascinated by this. It's because the camera sensor does run a bit into the near-infrared part of the spectrum, which the camera can detect but the eye can't.
The camera's sensitivity in the IR range is very poor, so you would have to take a long exposure, and the camera will be overwhelmed by even the least bit of visible light. You can buy some IR filters for digicams, but they're expensive. Even if you spend the money, don't expect great pictures, because it's a very narrow range of the spectrum that's coming in at IR wavelengths.
2007-02-07 11:25:12 · answer #2 · answered by Rando 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋