Showing posts with label Night Vision. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Night Vision. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Gear Pr0n: NVG Week Monocular

One of the advantages of the monocular arrangement is that using it won't entirely destroy your own "night vision" while maintaining some semblance of binocular vision and depth perception. Your eyes adjust to lower levels of light by expanding your irises, thus allowing more light to enter your eye. It takes time for your eyes to adjust to the dark because the iris expands relatively slowly. However, if you are exposed suddenly to bright light, the iris contracts very quickly to protect your eyesight. Re-adjusting to the dark will be slow again. Using goggles exposes your eye to the light of the display. If you must take off your goggles, it will be at least 20 minutes before your eyesight adjusts to the dark. But with a monocular, only one eye is exposed to the light, meaning only it expands. Your other eye remains adjusted to the dark. While using the monocular, your brain "prefers" the clear image but continues to take information from your "dark" eye. If you have to remove the night vision, the process is reversed somewhat and you can function with the dark eye while the NVG eye readjusts to the dark. Oh, and don't worry about the skull; he wasn't anybody we knew... well.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Gear Pr0n: Night Vision Week

A whole week featuring the wonders of Night Vision Goggles (NVG), or Night Observation Devices (NODs), Starlight scopes, etc. Light enhancement technology is an awesome force multiplier for the zombie hunter. Generally it comes in two forms; Active: which emits infrared light and converts it back to visible light, and Passive: which enhances ambient light on a screen for viewing. Both have their strengths and weaknesses in our profession. For zombie work, either works fine. But some beasties can see infrared light and using Active NVG only advertises your presence -- but at least you'll be able to see your threat as it charges.