subject: Night Vision Binoculars: See Clearly In Low Light Conditions [print this page] No matter if you are at the waterfront watching boats approaching from yonder or at the outdoor nature park or bird watching by dusk, one of the essentials you may need is your night vision binoculars. These assist you to see objects clearly in conditions of very poor light, which you will not be able to see with your standard binoculars. Their ability to get this done depend either on light amplification or thermal imaging both of which have been developed initially for military applications and have like a lot of other technologies found alternate use in our everyday lives too.
Basically most night vision binoculars work by amplifying the existing light which is too poor for our naked eyes to see things or objects, especially from a distance. Briefly, this is achieved by electronic means, which convert the light in to electrical currents of the order of a few micro amps and amplify them. Thereafter these are converted back into light and the object thus will get clearer to our vision. For this reason they use a matrix of photosensitive materials. Depending on the type of technology used in conversion from light to electric and back, the night vision binoculars are classified as very first, second or third generation. The newest versions are capable of even recording the objects you are viewing and some models have facility to directly hook them to camcorders! So bear in mind to ask your dealer for these specific details and features. Of course, it goes without saying that the cost will be proportionate to the degree of sophistication!
When you have numerous options, which is usually the case, the specific features you should remember to ask consist of the following:
Magnification this will determine how close the object will appear. E.g., 8X means, the object appears to you 8 times closer than it actually is. Usually 7X to 14X are on the market and will meet with most requirements, unless you want it for monitoring your perimeter from the house and the fencing is very far in certain sectors or such comparable situations.
Zoom the capability to make adjustments to the magnification as needed i.e., between 7X and 14X you can select. All binoculars are NOT supplied with this control.
Aperture measured in mm, it represents the diameter of the front or objective lens; larger the aperture, more light is gathered by the electronics and b- this is measured better or clearer is the view. For recreational purposes, 20 to 60 mm is plenty of, but for surveillance or hunting you may need more and there are models offering 70 mm or more.
Field Of View (FOV) this is measured in degrees or specified in linear feet such as 1000 yards. Wider field of view allows you to see a wider image.
Amount of prisms - usually there are Roof (small prisms used in smaller models) or Porro prisms for larger FOV
Focus single focus control for both eye pieces, with Diopter control independently in some models.
There is also single tube double view or double tube double view relying on whether there is single objective or double objective, the double view meaning two eye pieces. Extras such as rubber casing, armored, water proof and fog proof are features which may be handy during camping, hiking, rock climbing or white water rafting trips.
