<span style="font-style: italic">Gen1, Digital and Gain. Why GAIN is the most important feature in Gen1 and Digital and why Gen1 isn't even close to Gen2.
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Coming into Night Vision for the first time, people often ask what the generations are. Is Gen3 twice as good as Gen2 and is Gen2 twice as good as Gen1? If not, then how much?
There are approximate values you can place on this, but to avoid too many complicated comments, I'll just show you - Remember that this is intended for people new to the technology, not old-hands
Firstly, from a practical tactical perspective, you can consider this;
TNVC Tactical review of Gen1,2 and 3
That's a very tactical examination under extreme conditions. It's ideal if you're in law enforcement or if you are likely to have people shooting back at you. Yes, sometimes Gen1 really does look black. In case you think those images are faked, drop them into photoshop and raise the brightness and contrast and you'll see that they are genuine.
But what if you're just a hunter or looking to check on what is going on? What if extra IR is an option? And what if you're in an urban environment? Is that any different?
What it all comes down to, in the end, is light. Night Vision Equipment amplifies the available levels of light so that we can see it better. I'll write another article on how it does that later if anyone wants to know more, but for now, assume that all NV amplifies the available light levels. Now, to see light, it has to be bright enough for our eyes to get a good image. How good is good?
According to Wikipedia, different lighting levels are;
Illuminance Example
0.0001 lux Total starlight, overcast sky[2]
0.002 lux Moonless clear night sky with airglow[2]
0.01 lux Quarter moon
0.27 lux Full moon on a clear night[2][3]
1 lux Full moon overhead at tropical latitudes[4]
3.4 lux Dark limit of civil twilight under a clear sky[5]
50 lux Family living room[6]
80 lux Hallway/toilet[7][8]
100 lux Very dark overcast day[2]
320–500 lux Office lighting[9][10][11]
400 lux Sunrise or sunset on a clear day.
1,000 lux Overcast day;[2] typical TV studio lighting
10,000–25,000 lux Full daylight (not direct sun)[2]
32,000–130,000 lux Direct sunlight
So how dark is dark? Well, unaided, I can see well myself down to about 1 lux. After that, it feels dark to me. At 0.1 lux, I can still see OK, but it's very dark. At 0.01 lux, I can't see well at all though my Gen1 night vision still works effectively. That's quarter moon.
Now beyond that, at 0.002 lux - Clear moonless sky, it feels like I can't see my own face in front of my hand. If I drop something, I will have a hard time finding it. Under conditions like 0.0001 lux, I can barely see someone standing right next to me unless they are moving. I can't see the ground and I can't spot any obstacles smaller than myself.
How about with Night Vision?
Here's an old image I took with Gen1 and Gen2 some time ago. Conditions would be somewhere around 0.01 lux.
Here's another comparison, showing different illumination levels ( in the city - probably never goes much below 0.01 lux )
That car is about 25 yds away. Not much. As you can see, with the illuminator, the Gen1 looks like it's being pushed to it's limit... And that's about the best you'd get with a small hand torch too.
The Gen2 is without any additional illumination - as you can see, it manages to increase the brightness automatically where the Gen1 cannot. Gen1 gives out while the Gen2 actually seems to be getting brighter ( actually, it's just that the gain is turned up a lot to make the dark areas the same brightness, so the bright areas get very bright ).
As you can see, Gen1 pretty much always needs illumination though you can see good detail outside of the times that the moon is less than half.
And how does this compare to digital? Well, on the Bushnell Stealthview ( which I have ) the IR is always turned on. It's impossible to turn off, though it does have two levels of IR.
Here's a normal ATN Gen1 compared to a Bushnell Stealthview Digital - with both roughly having the same system resolution...
So where did all the image go? Digital loses most of the field of view due to the small size of the CCD element and the limitations of the pixel pitch.
But as you can see, very similar performance from both and I can tell you from experience, the Digital usually has a nicer picture, but without extra IR, the Gen1 usually works under slightly darker conditions.
So overall, how do you apply this?
If you're thinking of getting a Gen1 or Digital, remember that outside of the city, they only really work with a full or mostly full moon, which means a few days a month.
If you want to shoot more than that, then you need an illuminator, but Gen1 see's illuminators at about the same power our eyes see a torch, so if it's too far to use a strong torch then it's too far for Gen1 or Digital with an illuminator. About 100m is a practical limit, though depending on conditions, you may get more.
If you want a serious NV device you can use on any night that will give you a useable image ( or if you need illuminator assistance out to 500m ) then you're going to have to save up for Gen2 or Gen3 and from practical experience, I can tell you to skip Gen2.
I know this doesn't suit most budgets, but if Gen3 was a car, then Gen1 is a bicycle. My advice if you really want to try Gen1, is get a cheap one off ebay. Use it, evaluate it and either keep it, sell it and replace it with the one you wanted in the first place, or sell it and save up for Gen3.
Most of us here have done the last one...
Regards
David
P.S. If you really are determined to use Gen1, here's a video I took of Gen1 with a $200 illuminator ( ELV-R type ).
<object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/tnpy1NA-85I"></param> <param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/tnpy1NA-85I" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"> </embed></object>
You'll notice at around 90 to 100m ( the trees ) you can see the tree trunks pretty well. But the exposed wooden fence behind ( about 140m ) is almost invisible, even though it's directly illuminated. This is the real limitation of illuminators and some would say even then 100m is pushing it. That's a good quality Russian Gen1 riflescope BTW, with a magnification of 1.5x and a very fast lens. With higher magnification, expect even lower performance levels.
The park has LED lighting also, which helps a lot.
</span>
Coming into Night Vision for the first time, people often ask what the generations are. Is Gen3 twice as good as Gen2 and is Gen2 twice as good as Gen1? If not, then how much?
There are approximate values you can place on this, but to avoid too many complicated comments, I'll just show you - Remember that this is intended for people new to the technology, not old-hands
Firstly, from a practical tactical perspective, you can consider this;
TNVC Tactical review of Gen1,2 and 3
That's a very tactical examination under extreme conditions. It's ideal if you're in law enforcement or if you are likely to have people shooting back at you. Yes, sometimes Gen1 really does look black. In case you think those images are faked, drop them into photoshop and raise the brightness and contrast and you'll see that they are genuine.
But what if you're just a hunter or looking to check on what is going on? What if extra IR is an option? And what if you're in an urban environment? Is that any different?
What it all comes down to, in the end, is light. Night Vision Equipment amplifies the available levels of light so that we can see it better. I'll write another article on how it does that later if anyone wants to know more, but for now, assume that all NV amplifies the available light levels. Now, to see light, it has to be bright enough for our eyes to get a good image. How good is good?
According to Wikipedia, different lighting levels are;
Illuminance Example
0.0001 lux Total starlight, overcast sky[2]
0.002 lux Moonless clear night sky with airglow[2]
0.01 lux Quarter moon
0.27 lux Full moon on a clear night[2][3]
1 lux Full moon overhead at tropical latitudes[4]
3.4 lux Dark limit of civil twilight under a clear sky[5]
50 lux Family living room[6]
80 lux Hallway/toilet[7][8]
100 lux Very dark overcast day[2]
320–500 lux Office lighting[9][10][11]
400 lux Sunrise or sunset on a clear day.
1,000 lux Overcast day;[2] typical TV studio lighting
10,000–25,000 lux Full daylight (not direct sun)[2]
32,000–130,000 lux Direct sunlight
So how dark is dark? Well, unaided, I can see well myself down to about 1 lux. After that, it feels dark to me. At 0.1 lux, I can still see OK, but it's very dark. At 0.01 lux, I can't see well at all though my Gen1 night vision still works effectively. That's quarter moon.
Now beyond that, at 0.002 lux - Clear moonless sky, it feels like I can't see my own face in front of my hand. If I drop something, I will have a hard time finding it. Under conditions like 0.0001 lux, I can barely see someone standing right next to me unless they are moving. I can't see the ground and I can't spot any obstacles smaller than myself.
How about with Night Vision?
Here's an old image I took with Gen1 and Gen2 some time ago. Conditions would be somewhere around 0.01 lux.
Here's another comparison, showing different illumination levels ( in the city - probably never goes much below 0.01 lux )
That car is about 25 yds away. Not much. As you can see, with the illuminator, the Gen1 looks like it's being pushed to it's limit... And that's about the best you'd get with a small hand torch too.
The Gen2 is without any additional illumination - as you can see, it manages to increase the brightness automatically where the Gen1 cannot. Gen1 gives out while the Gen2 actually seems to be getting brighter ( actually, it's just that the gain is turned up a lot to make the dark areas the same brightness, so the bright areas get very bright ).
As you can see, Gen1 pretty much always needs illumination though you can see good detail outside of the times that the moon is less than half.
And how does this compare to digital? Well, on the Bushnell Stealthview ( which I have ) the IR is always turned on. It's impossible to turn off, though it does have two levels of IR.
Here's a normal ATN Gen1 compared to a Bushnell Stealthview Digital - with both roughly having the same system resolution...
So where did all the image go? Digital loses most of the field of view due to the small size of the CCD element and the limitations of the pixel pitch.
But as you can see, very similar performance from both and I can tell you from experience, the Digital usually has a nicer picture, but without extra IR, the Gen1 usually works under slightly darker conditions.
So overall, how do you apply this?
If you're thinking of getting a Gen1 or Digital, remember that outside of the city, they only really work with a full or mostly full moon, which means a few days a month.
If you want to shoot more than that, then you need an illuminator, but Gen1 see's illuminators at about the same power our eyes see a torch, so if it's too far to use a strong torch then it's too far for Gen1 or Digital with an illuminator. About 100m is a practical limit, though depending on conditions, you may get more.
If you want a serious NV device you can use on any night that will give you a useable image ( or if you need illuminator assistance out to 500m ) then you're going to have to save up for Gen2 or Gen3 and from practical experience, I can tell you to skip Gen2.
I know this doesn't suit most budgets, but if Gen3 was a car, then Gen1 is a bicycle. My advice if you really want to try Gen1, is get a cheap one off ebay. Use it, evaluate it and either keep it, sell it and replace it with the one you wanted in the first place, or sell it and save up for Gen3.
Most of us here have done the last one...
Regards
David
P.S. If you really are determined to use Gen1, here's a video I took of Gen1 with a $200 illuminator ( ELV-R type ).
<object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/tnpy1NA-85I"></param> <param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/tnpy1NA-85I" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"> </embed></object>
You'll notice at around 90 to 100m ( the trees ) you can see the tree trunks pretty well. But the exposed wooden fence behind ( about 140m ) is almost invisible, even though it's directly illuminated. This is the real limitation of illuminators and some would say even then 100m is pushing it. That's a good quality Russian Gen1 riflescope BTW, with a magnification of 1.5x and a very fast lens. With higher magnification, expect even lower performance levels.
The park has LED lighting also, which helps a lot.
