Weekly Project: Build Your Own X-Ray Vision Camera

Step 3 Scalpel; Cut Your Filter

Use a very sharp razor blade for cutting a 3mm-square piece of the Beryllium material and be careful only to touch the edges--it smudges easily.

Comments

[ELF]

Hah! That's a normal IR block filter, replace it with a piece of (over-)exposed color film, and you got a camera that can see through some things like thin fabrics, like bathing suits (Making you a creep if you tried it) but also through coke (the brown liquid stuff you know :P) some cheap sunglasses, skin to some extend (your bloodveins will "pop out" more viewed through the camera), and will also block the light from LCD monitors, because they don't emit any IR light, so it will look like it's turned off... Anyway, try that instead :)

[techno guy]

Where do you get an overexposed piece of color film.

[ELF]

Any smaller photo store where they develop film.
It's usually a wasteproduct from the start and end of a roll of film.

[electricalman123]

Could I try just looking through the exposed/over-exposed film, instead of taking apart the camera and then replacing the filter?

[ELF]

Your eye can't see IR (or at least not very much) so the effect would be minimal at best

[electricalman123]

So that means I do have to take apart the camera and replace the filter?

[ELF]

Yes, unless you do it with a cam with "night vision" (which is the exact same function, with a small IR LED on the front of the camera). That is also the reason why I only did it to a cheap webcam :)

[cowscankill]

over exposed... like what? a diposable camera's film left in the sun?

[tubbychick3n]

just go find some old film negatives, usually before the roll of pictures, there's about four sections of all black.

[usb key]

do the negatives need to be on a camera lens? and can i just take pictures, develop negatives, and use those?

[tubbychick3n]

Yep. The next time you go to develop pictures, just take the darkest part of the film (negative) and find the sections where no pictures were( it should be extremely dark in that area) and use that. That's what i did for my eyetoy.

[usb key]

if i used a camera and i got the negatives i can use those? could i just look through them or would it have to be a camera

[tubbychick3n]

It has to be in a camera. If only it were that easy. I wouldn't ruin a good camera if i were you. I put it into an old eyetoy (ps2 webcam-type thing) that i use as a webcam for my computer and it worked great. It's actually quite fun to mess around.

[usb key]

but that would still be a web cam. can i get a disposable camera and use that or does it have to be night vision (i saw some youtube videos)?

[tubbychick3n]

I guess there might be some digital disposable cameras that you could use, but i don't think the disposable film ones will work like you're thinking.

[cowscankill]

ORLY?! someone finally tells me what i wannt to know! xD Thank you

[tubbychick3n]

no problem. i have already done this with one of my eyetoy cameras and it works great.

[RetroPlayer]

Actually, I believe it is supposed to be UNEXPOSED, but DEVELOPED color SLIDE film. And two pieces are recommended.

[Lebanite]

much rather use that... speaking that berillium can be harmful to your health
See Link

[ELF]

No, I'm pretty sure that it's suppose to be exposed, and normal negative film... Maybe they yield the same results :)

[ELF]

Yea, for like, a second or something :P Till it's "black", won't more than a second or two :)

[cowscankill]

oh...okay thanks

[ELF]

You're welcome :) Remember, these films are very photosensitive. On a sunny day you might only expose it for like 1/125 to 1/500 of a second.. ;)

[AnarchistAsian]

ummm... is this dangerous? or is it just x-rays already present in the enviornment that you are viewing with?

[NozeDive]

It's true. I used the exposed film method on a digital camera that I removed the IR blocking glass from. It works pretty well. P.S., it may be a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) sensor. They're used frequently, as well as CMOS (Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) P.P.S. About those capacitors... I made a pretty painful Taser style stun gun out of a disposable camera back in 2002. They hurt, but other than that, capacitors are okay to deal with. They taste great.

[Derin]

a ccd is $130

[NozeDive]

You can get new, in the box, web-cam style cameras that use CCDs from eBay for about five dollars a piece. I bought three, so I could use two normally, and modify the third one. I also got a used digital camera (also CCD) with an LCD screen for about $30. That way, once I modify that one, I can have night vision on the go. »Tøny

[Derin]

I was saying the CCD unit for a sony handycam costs $130(atleast thats what the repair guy told me)

[NozeDive]

That's expensive. I didn't know that those components cost so much separately. But, then again, Sony has some pretty impressive night vision cameras. Thanks for the info! :-)

[Coffee bean]

the night feature on sony camera really is just something that they use to jack up the price.

[Derin]

I think so,it is more than half the price of the camera itself!Yea,Sony makes a couple good camcorders but mine has TWO FAILS.both the cassette head AND the CCD unit is damaged

[maker12]

the photoflash is not good to "tatse" and the other ones doint "taste"good SO BE QUIET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[danielsb7676]

some other guy said beryllium was extrteamly dangerous does this replace all dangerous materials (besides the capacitor) and what do you mean by over exposed color film

[ELF]

Well it doesn't do the same as this project is *suppose* to do (I hope you know that this is a prank) but it can change the spectrum the camera can "see". And yes, there are no dangerous materials in any camera I've taken apart, so it would be safe (at least for you, not for the camera ;) )
Overexposed film, well... Go down to your local camera shop and ask for the waste from the developement. You should be able to get a "frame" (you know, normal camera film is a long strip with a "window" or "frame" for each shot) that is entirely black, or almost entirely black, and it's important that it's from color film, because I've read that B&W film blocks the IR light.
You then have to insert a small piece of this film into your camera, replacing the IR blocking filter, which is often located just above the CCD.

[SnuffyDaPenguin]

How would I go about "over" exposing film? Or can I just use film that has been used that I tore out of an old one-time use camera?

[ELF]

It's just exposed film with no picture on it :) So completely black So yes, you can use that from the one itme camera

[danielsb7676]

wait yours is a prank or is it actually "x-ray"

[robotman3]

can you use a radioactive source insted of beryllium?

[nikb]

Beryllium metal is used in science because it's transparent to x-rays, not because it fluoresces. The normal use is to have a film of beryllium that's thick enough to be optically opaque, but thin enough to let the x-rays through.

To make an x-ray window, you want the lowest atomic mass possible in the materials you use. x-rays are scattered by electrons orbiting close to the nucleus, while visible light is reflected by the conduction electrons that spread throughout the metal.

So you want a material with as few tightly bound electrons as possible. Beryllium is the lightest metal that is practical to work (though the dust is carcinogenic), it's only got 4 electrons per atom.

The periodic table reads Hydrogen (gas), Helium (gas), Lithium (metal, reacts with moist air), Beryllium (metal, stable)

To get something to fluoresce under x-rays, think scintillators

Scintillators

[Hachetman200]

i got shocked badly doing this but i managed to finnish it