I'd always wanted a legit sub250 night vision build. So that ruled out the CJLTech IIR Night Flyer module which weighs a whopping 74g. I'd also tried so called "starlight" cameras which were at best ... eh. Here's some night footage using the recently released Foxeer Digisight v3 Starlight on the HDZero digital FPV system. This camera is spec'ed at 0.00001 lux!! I'm thinking I should be able to see pretty well with some ambient street lights in a dark park, right?

Honestlly, if I didn't know that park like the back of my hand, I'd been stuck up in a tree pretty fast. I don't really consider that very "strarlighty."

So I decided to go all in and remove the IR filter from the camera and make use of some IR LEDs to hopefully give me some legit night vision. Afterall, these filters are typically just a small piece of film covering the sensor or bottom of the lens and easily removeable. Ok, not so much with the Digisight v3. It is a freeging separate lens lol wtf man.

I needed to literally hack at that thing little by little with a pocket knife, micro screwdriver, xacto knife, and whatever else I had on hand to remove it. It took a while.

For the IR LEDs, I didn't want to fuss with resistors and maths so I just opted for these Raspberry Pi IR LEDs since they were already all wired up and ready to go. I'm powering them with a Matek Micro 5V BEC hooked up to the lipo. I designed a holder which I printed from TPU.

This was meant to just be a proof of concept so I didn't spend much time on designing the mount hence the ghetto velcro strap approach. I'm sure a more efficient design can lower the weight.

For a pair of IR LED modules that can take direct 5v with no fuss for less than $2 (assuming you're willing to wait on China) and a little elbow grease to remove that IR filter, I was kinda blown away by the results!! Sam Fisher would be proud!! LOL

I plan to spending some time redesigning the mount so it's just a little bit cleaner. If there's any interest, I'd be happy to share the STL files.

And if you are wondering what an IR sensitive camera looks like during the day ... that is super trippy in itself! It turns anything green into a white-ish pink-ish hue. IR photography was used heavily in Vietnam to sus out enemy positions. Here, see for yourself ...