I have been reading about UFO and how they may be visible outside the visible light spectrum , so I have taken a logitech 640 x 480 web cam and attached it to a 70 - 210 mm telephoto lens. The Infrared filter that was on the CCD is gone as well as the standard lensing this makes it pretty good in low light as long as there is an IR component to it.
I have made bellows out of a PVC water pipe patch 2 inch in diameter and sleeved the lens in to that, a honey jar lid holds the CCD in place. Draw strings activate the iris and the whole lot is secured to a cordless drill body with 3 inch hose clamps.
I have a 12v di-chromic light on top with visible light filter so in effect it is an infrared floodlight.. The original battery pack for the drill is 12 volt as well so it was easy to use the existing switch to turn the IR floodlight on and off, This will make it great for wildlife spotting as well as trying to see UFO's in the IR spectrum.
I have named this creation the SC-01 for Speed camera, my son thinks it looks like a radar gun and it is set up to quickly acquire the target while a more powerful telephoto lens can be swung on to the target. This takes a bit longer as they are on tripods.
The green thing on the top of it at the left (the back of the camera) is a housing I am building an IR spotlight from LED's it is interchangeable with the 12 di-chromic that is housed in a small corn kernel tin and both the 12v and the diode clip in to the bezel from a stuffed d cell mag-light.
A quick coat of matte black is in order tomorrow afternoon and then I will be happy with it. The blue thing on the lens is a hood the houses the visible light filter which is made from a lid of a fly spray can, with a hole about 3/4 inch round in the middle. It has a bit of exposed proceed 35 millimeter film (read looks completely black) to only allow IR and not visible light through.
I will post some pics in the next few days of IR and combined Visible/IR photos.
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