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Bebop 2 IR sensitivity?

tundrawolf

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Hi, I am thinking about buying a Bebop 2 drone. I camp a lot in my custom home built camper van, in remote (as possible, the van is fully self sufficient with winches, solar, commode, inverter, fresh water etc...) places and I love to watch the wildlife, and at night. I know they make drones that have night vision, but I am on a budget. I know that CMOS or CCD style cameras (Digital cameras basically) are all highly infrared sensitive, not in the heat spectrum, but in the spectrum your TV remote control emits. For example, if you take your TV's remote control and shine it at your cell phone's camera, it will light up like a flashlight when you press a button.

However, your naked eye cannot see it. In fact the vast majority of digital cameras actually need a lens that filters out infrared light, but most can still pick it up. I was wondering if it would be feasible to place a small, directed infrared emitter on the Bebop 2, and use it as a sort of invisible flashlight to see the wildlife at night without spooking it with a visible light. I know they make focused IR emitters that take very little power, and I am fully aware it will reduce the drone's overall flight time, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make to have a night/day flyable drone.

So, has anyone tested their Bebop 2's sensitivity to infrared?
 
Hi, I am thinking about buying a Bebop 2 drone. I camp a lot in my custom home built camper van, in remote (as possible, the van is fully self sufficient with winches, solar, commode, inverter, fresh water etc...) places and I love to watch the wildlife, and at night. I know they make drones that have night vision, but I am on a budget. I know that CMOS or CCD style cameras (Digital cameras basically) are all highly infrared sensitive, not in the heat spectrum, but in the spectrum your TV remote control emits. For example, if you take your TV's remote control and shine it at your cell phone's camera, it will light up like a flashlight when you press a button.

However, your naked eye cannot see it. In fact the vast majority of digital cameras actually need a lens that filters out infrared light, but most can still pick it up. I was wondering if it would be feasible to place a small, directed infrared emitter on the Bebop 2, and use it as a sort of invisible flashlight to see the wildlife at night without spooking it with a visible light. I know they make focused IR emitters that take very little power, and I am fully aware it will reduce the drone's overall flight time, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make to have a night/day flyable drone.

So, has anyone tested their Bebop 2's sensitivity to infrared?

Most good camera sensors that can be used for IR light are black and white. Using a color sensor, there is an RGGB mask over the wells of the sensor that "steals" a lot of IR light. You should be aware that there is a filter in all normal lenses or just before the sensor that blocks the Infrared spectrum and you should probably have removed it if you do not need a hell lot of watts in your IR light source. Therefore, you will probably need to rebuild your Bebop camera.

I do not assume that a Bebop camera is particularly suitable for a conversion. Perhaps it was an advantage to look at one of the small cheap cameras that the FPV drone people is using with a 5.8 GHz monitor that you can buy cheaply at Hobbyking.com or a local FPV dealer. Then build the camera and IR light into a small box and mount it on the rear of Bebop in the same way that Parrot has mounted their IR heat-sensitive camera.

Hope my text gives you some inspiration. Regards, Leif.
 
Wow, great, thank you!!!

That will interface with the system n the Bebop?

No it becomes completely independent of the Bebop electronics.

You must have a 5.8 GHz camera transmitter as one of these:


And a screen like one of these:


And if you want to save, save the recordings you need to have a DVR built into the transmitter or monitor. The best thing is that the DVR is near the camera.


Well, you have spent a lot of money but then you also have something that works when you get some IR diodes for the camera. Beware they do not shine into the lens.

You can also use the setup for a sensitive trail camera on the ground with a battery. I have actually built one a few years ago with similar components. It is used today to find a rare type of mouse we have here in the area.

Regards, Leif.
 
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No it becomes completely independent of the Bebop electronics.

You must have a 5.8 GHz camera transmitter as one of these:


And a screen like one of these:


And if you want to save, save the recordings you need to have a DVR built into the transmitter or monitor. The best thing is that the DVR is near the camera.


Well, you have spent a lot of money but then you also have something that works when you get some IR diodes for the camera. Beware they do not shine into the lens.

You can also use the setup for a sensitive trail camera on the ground with a battery. I have actually built one a few years ago with similar components. It is used today to find a rare type of mouse we have here in the area.

Regards, Leif.

Thank you so much, Leif! You have helped me a great deal. I am a highly technical person, I may try hacking into the Bebop's camera feed (Usually it doesn't benefit a company to have a proprietary feed but I could be wrong!) and possibly have a quick connect/switch for high and low light scenarios, but I am excited to get this drone! Thank you for all of your help! =D
 
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Thank you so much, Leif! You have helped me a great deal. I am a highly technical person, I may try hacking into the Bebop's camera feed (Usually it doesn't benefit a company to have a proprietary feed but I could be wrong!) and possibly have a quick connect/switch for high and low light scenarios, but I am excited to get this drone! Thank you for all of your help! =D

I'm almost 110% sure you can't hack a Bebop camera feed as the FPV cameras run the old analog PAL/NTSC television standards while Bebop probably uses a modern digital FHD format. But there is of course a microscopic chance I am wrong because I have never played inside a Bebop.

Good luck, sincerely, Leif.
 

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