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L.E.D Blackout?

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holstonangler

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I noticed all the new cams have some kind of black film over the led's to prevent the flash from being seen. Anyone know of where to get this stuff to update the older led trail cams?
 
You won't be able to find just a film that will "black out" the older cams. True black-flash cams not only have this filter in front of the LEDs, but the LEDs are special units that only produce light just outside the range of human/deer vision. The filtering material is to ensure than only the light in the non-visible spectrum (infra-red) is projected beyond the unit.
 
The technology is not that advanced to where they are charging top dollar for a fix that can be had for much much less, i would bet that there is a simple tweek to eliminate the visable red glow from todays trail cams, i.e... a tinted cellophane covering the leds.
 
holstonangler said:
The technology is not that advanced to where they are charging top dollar for a fix that can be had for much much less, i would bet that there is a simple tweek to eliminate the visable red glow from todays trail cams, i.e... a tinted cellophane covering the leds.
Click to expand...

Then you don't know what has gone into trail-cam research and development. Creating a true black-flash cam is actually quite difficult. It takes very specialized (and expensive) LEDs in combination with special filters to produce this effect, while still producing enough light that digital imagers are sensative to.
 
BRYAN is correct. It is a totally different wavelength of light. The visible leds are 850nm and the blackflash leds are 940-950nm . The cost difference is substantial. I know this because I developed the first blackflash homebrew video and still pic unit. I too wish a simple piece of something to cover the array with would do it...I tried it......IT DON'T!!!!
 
FIREMANJIM said:
BRYAN is correct. It is a totally different wavelength of light. The visible leds are 850nm and the blackflash leds are 940-950nm .
Click to expand...

In fact, some of the newest black-flash cams are using 980nm LEDs.
 
I am using the new Moultrie M-80 black.
Same great daytime photos, but nighttime doesn't have the flash reach and clarity of the original M-80.
BUT, I am using this camera in areas where I don't want to take any chance of spooking deer with standard IR light, so it is a trade-off.
 
LanceS4803 said:
I am using the new Moultrie M-80 black.
Same great daytime photos, but nighttime doesn't have the flash reach and clarity of the original M-80.
BUT, I am using this camera in areas where I don't want to take any chance of spooking deer with standard IR light, so it is a trade-off.
Click to expand...

Black-flash is always a trade-off, and a difficult limitation for camera designers to work with. Most so-call "infra-red" cameras do produce infra-red (non-visible light), but they actually produce most of the night-time image with the visible red light these cameras' flash also project (hence the common term "red-glow" cameras). Digital imagers are much more sensative to visible red light than they are infra-red light. Being more sensative to visible red light, the camera can use a faster shutter speed to take the image, producing clearer pictures at greater distances with better "stop-action." True black-flash cameras that only project infra-red light are limited by the lack of sensativity to infra-red light of the digital imagers. This lack of sensativity requires much longer shutter speeds to allow in enough light to produce an image, which in turn produces poor stop-action, causing any moving object to be blurred in the image ("motion blur"). This also produces much shorter night-time illumination distances. Until someone develops a digitial imager that is highly sensative to both visible and infra-red light, this will continue to be a major down-side to black-flash cams. But the lack of deer-spooking visible flash is such an advantage to have on a trail-camera that the market for black-flash cams is huge.
 

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