As someone who works with technology for years now, I might sometimes appear as a “know all, seen all” kind of guy. But that’s far from the truth. Sure, there is plenty of technology I know or even slightly aware of. But there is still a whole lot that blows my mind when I come across it.
Via this blog post, I came across an X27 – ultra low light night vision color camera. And my mind is blown. This technology provides high definition, color video images in ultra low light conditions (no moon, overcast). The level of detail this camera picks up is simply unbelievable. Check out this video comparing X27 to some other night vision technologies.
The X27 camera takes videos in darkness that looks like they were shot in the daytime. And they’re in color…none of this black and white, thermal, or infrared stuff. The camera was developed for military use, has an effective ISO rating of 5,000,000, and has a comically long name: “X27 Reconnaissance Day/Night high Fidelity true real time low light/low lux color night vision Imaging Security / Multi Purpose camera system”. Pricing information is not available, but I bet you’re paying for every single one of those words. (via digg)
Sure, military is probably the first and only sector that can afford this. But as with anything, once the technology is available, it will make it’s way down to the rest of us, opening new doors in law enforcement, security, photography, movies and TV, entertainment, health and safety, environment and animal welfare, and other areas.
Super cool stuff!
Great article Leonid, this is the best tech I’ve seen all year, the clarity and detail at night in colour is truly astonishing. I’ve seen the videos where the stars are presented, that is just amazing, if it were not for the camera panning up to the sky and see those millions of stars you would have to convince me that that was shot at night, truly amazing. The world of night vision looks like it will be evolving very soon into the color realm and rightfully so I have been watching the black-and-white mono and real images on tv for far too long. I’m ready for a color, reminds me of when black-and-white TV turned to color that was breakthrough technology but most of you lads are probably too young to remember that.
Cheers
Thanks for the comment, Winston.
When I was a kid, we had two TV sets in the house. One was a colored one in the living room. The other one was black-and-white in the kids bedroom. So I know the feeling of waiting for the B&W to turn to color. :)