Is the photon a let down

[Davyo]

Always had home brews,but been looking at the photon / photon xt. But for every good review there's 3 bad.Also just watched an American guy on YouTube putting it against the EJ230 (home brew) which I used in the past, and it made the photon xt look very poor. The photon just seemed grainy where as the home brew was crystal clear.Any body in the Durham area got a photon,I wouldn't mind a look at.

[FalconFN]

As far as I know the best low light IR camera is the e700/ej230 which uses a CCD sensor (Sony Exview) - the photon uses a CMOS sensor of some sort and CMOS sensors don't seem to perform as well in low light. I think you are paying for an affordable, well built, all in one unit that has a guarantee, you aren't paying for the best NV you can get.

 

Edit: This explains it a little further:

The argument as to which one [CCD or CMOS] is the better technology has been razing on for some time now. There are arguments both in favor of and against of both these technologies. Before the introduction of CMOS technology, digital cameras were all powered by CCD sensors. CCD stands for Charge Coupled Device and they are the more power hungry of the two types. CCD sensors use a system where the actual processing of the charge obtained by each pixel is carried out off-pixel. So, the amplification of the signal, conversion to electrons and then transfer to the image processing is all outsourced. The result is that the area occupied by each pixel is wholly dedicated to the capture of light.

The CMOS sensor on the other hand uses a different algorithm for converting light to charge. The entire process is handled by the pixels themselves. This means right from the capturing of light to conversion into charge and amplification of the signal, everything is handled by the individual pixels themselves. All these complex circuitry and conversion metrics reduce the area in each pixel that is dedicated to collecting light. As a result, a lot of the light strikes these small transistors instead of falling on the light sensitive photodiodes. The result is higher noise to signal ratio in CMOS sensors. This is why CMOS sensors have been found to be inferior to CCD sensors in very low light conditions. This is evident when you use a high ISO number on a CCD powered camera compared to a CMOS powered one.

Edited December 15, 2014 by FalconFN

[evo]

I personally think they are very over rated,, judging by the amount of second hand ones popping up for sale it seems to me that they are not what they are made out to be,,

 

if I,m to be honest for night vision the ej230 will take some beating but it is a home brew kit but the quality is superb,, my latest homebrew is so sharp you would think you where watching a full HD tv,

 

stick with your ej230 mate cos you,ll have to pay a lot more than the photon costs to better it, I,ve only had a look through one and personally did not rate it at all, they are certainly over focus fussy and when you get one it can be improved yes,,but why should you have to fork out more money to improve something that's meant to be the bees knees,

 

sorry but ej230 all day for me ,,two people I know who had them have got rid and are now using homebuilds

 

atb Evo

[activeviii]

I have been running both home builds e700 and mk1 photon.

 

Its all in the lighting. Give the right amount to the photon and its a good bit of kit. T20 with a doubler and its as good as anything else, shop bought, in its range.

 

My home builds are very good but then I would say that.

 

I prefer the screen of the home build as its more sociable to my buddy. We have had some right giggles over the way things fall over. Had a fox one day. On the 22lr, 15meters away, just sat there with head in air as if he didn't care. Let a round loose on it and it was as if I missed. Few seconds later it just slumped.

Had a rabbit in the string winds the other night, again qwith the 22lr, gave it 4" of wind and 1" hold. Hit the back of head, ncj was giggling as all you could see was a blood spray.

 

Both these shots would only have been sent by me if I didn't use a screen so I find the NV near eye a little anti social

[evo]

falconfn, agree with most of the cut and paste ,,but at first cmos was the camera to use then came the ccd which was cheaper yet far superior in low light,,i have been testing a very low light cmos camera for the last 6 weeks in my kit and all I can say is the NEW cmos cameras have improved immensely , the quality of picture is unreal for definition it is so sharp and is HD quality,

 

but and the big BUT is it performs superb for 100mtrs but then the noise appears and the quality fades which is where the ej230 takes over,,cmos are improving but have just not quite got there yet but it wont be long,,

 

the 190swx bullet camera which I first started using takes some beating and its low light capabilities are superb but at 480tvl distance shooting is not at its best but still very possible,

 

for a home build then nothing beats the ej230 and that includes the watec ,,it is outstanding quality for the money and it will be a while before something betters it,,

 

nice bit of info you posted there bud as it makes it easier for those that are not in the know

 

atb Evo

[telf]

i have the mk1 photon and find it ok for bunnies out to 80yds with the .22 rimmie,but am thinking of selling it to get an add-on as im tied to useing it with just the one gun,i personally bought it for the head down position as its just the same as a scope,as i couldnt get away with looking at a screen,seemed a bit alien to me

 

i think for the money when it first came out you couldnt go far wrong,i havent had a look through the mk2 but some reports say there seems to be a few problems,others say not,we will have to see what the six mags like when it comes out

[FalconFN]

To be honest you don't have to spend much to get a much better unit than the photon. I made my Exview base unit for less than £80 and although the e700 is slightly more sensitive, mine is still better than the photon - as far as I can tell.

[snow white]

I have the yokon mark 1 and the mark 2 .I have had no problems with either one.only had to send the mark 2 back for black spots but got sorted so ok now .I have fitted doublers on both just to give me that bit more range.

Edited December 16, 2014 by snow white