Old-school night vision uses image intensifiers, which are analog photon multipliers, and which are either really crumby (Gen 1/2, which can be under $1000/tube) or really expensive (Gen 3/4 – $3000-$8000 per tube).
Modern CCD sensors without infrared filters (a.k.a. "digital night vision") outperform Gen 2 image intensifiers for a base cost on the order of $100.
I can find all sort of digital night vision cameras/scopes, but none offering 1x magnification and adaptable for head/helmet-mounting. This is exactly what one would want for navigating or stalking game at night.
I must be missing something though, because there are plenty of digital monocles with significant optical magnification in the low 3-figure range, and plenty of head-mounted image intensifiers.
So: Looking for a head-mountable digital night-vision monocle, suitable for navigation (i.e., not significantly magnifying) that outperforms second generation image intensifiers.
Amendment: Note that this is not a big ask. One could almost build it from off-the-shelf parts:
- 4k day/night IP security camera ($100-200)
- HD eyepiece (i.e., half of a pair of ~$200 video eyeglasses)
- Infrared illuminator (up to $150)
Actually, if someone knows of a clever interface for an IP camera to video eyeglasses then it just becomes a matter of finding a camera with the right field of view, and ideally some convenient way to digitally zoom the image in either the glasses or the camera.
