somebody explain this to me,? about nightshot on Sony handycam

[IwasatWDWforamonth]

Ok so years ago imn POTC with my handycam on nightshot and right before the waterfall I hear a voice saying TURN OFF YOUR LIGHT.

I look at the camera and show it to my mom and ask her do you see a light?
nope.
I even had the screen closed.I carried on thinking that cm must be loony.

Fast forward to about a month ago im playing the camera and happen to point it in a mirror with the nightshot on and there was a light in the reflection, a bright light, I point the camera at me and see no light,point it at the mirror and there is the light again.

Ok somebody explain this to me, why dont I see this light until its pointing at a mirror?

 

[0bli0]

the light is infrared light (IR). your eyes can't see it. it illuminates objects for filming in darkness. when this is engaged, the camera is also rendered sensitive to near-infrared light, picking up the reflected light on the CCD. you see this when you point the camera at the mirror. they must also be using IR sensitive cameras for security/safety

 

[Groucho]

I've seen people write before about being yelled at for using night mode on their camcorder. I would, like 0bli0, assume that they're also using a "nightshot"-type camera to monitor things on many rides, since they're so dark that they pretty much need to.

The light is also in evidence sometimes with nightshot as things very close to the camera often get blown out from the light being "bright" on them.

Some people do get away with it, though... the www.nogodforme.com site has a lot of ride videos from different parks and seems to be particularly proud of their nightshot videos from the Mummy ride at Universal.

 

[IwasatWDWforamonth]

thank you for explaining that, now I know why she saw a light.
kinda neat how you can only see it when it reflects off something

 

[ktulu]

The military uses really cool IR spot lights to point out targets at night.

Given the dark enviroment of some of the rides, it's not shocking to hear that Disney is using cameras with IR.

 

[photo_chick]

MY DD has some singing Care Bears that interact with each other and they use IR beams. I did not know this until we shot video of them and the bears have beams of light coming from their hands and feet!

Do they use IR beams to trigger any of the animatronics in the ride?

 

[ktulu]

They might, although it make work like a remote control sending signals via IR.

OP, next time put a piece of tape over the IR emitters (they are on the front of the camera some where, the manual will tell you) and then you can video w/o the IR beam