Humans are handicapped by having very poor night vision; as compared to most other species of the animal kingdom. This is what has made nightvision binoculars a necessity for law enforcement and military applications. This enables the user to see objects and living beings using different technologies to promote such night vision.

Technologies Used for Nightvision Binoculars

There are a number of technologies that have been developed that allows human beings to be able to: see better in the dark, have greater image intensification, observe active illumination and for thermal imaging. Even when it is dark and there is no sunlight, there is still some amount of light from the stars and the moon that does fall on objects. The technology that uses image intensification magnifies the photons to create the images that can be seen through such nightvision binoculars. In the case of active illumination the nightvision binoculars are also a source of short wave infrared or near infrared that is directed towards the object being viewed. This is combined with image intensification to allow the viewer to see objects more clearly. Temperature differences are detected in thermal imaging to create images of the objects that are in the vision range of such technology assisted night vision binoculars.

The Development of Nightvision Binoculars

The first generation of nightvision binoculars used infrared projectors attached to the device. Infrared is invisible to the human eye, and the beams so projected bounced back from the objects to the lens in the binocular. The next generation of devices did away with the projection of infrared beams and concentrated on intensifying the available light sources. However they were unable to function efficiently on nights that had no moon or cloudy skies. The image intensification tubes became much more sensitive in the next generation of these devices. Thus allowed abilities for the device to create images even in very low light conditions. They actually increase the number of electrons instead of intensifying the original electrons. This allows images to become brighter and less distorted. The present generation of devices have the abilitiy to switch from low light to high light instantly. This allows the device to adapt immediately if lighting conditions change and lights are switched on. In earlier generation this made such binoculars become sightless.

Uses of Nightvision Binoculars

The usage of nightvision binoculars by military and law enforcement personnel enables them to function more efficiently even in dark and otherwise hostile environments. They are also extensively used for enhancing security and where surveillance of hostile or illegal activities is involved. A lot of hunters do make night vision binoculars a part of their equipment, especially when they are hunting at night. A lot of wild life enthusiasts will also use them; especially in heavily forested areas and where such wild life has nocturnal habits. They can also be used to find hidden objects. It is possible also to detect whether ground has been disturbed, and is useful for enforcement agencies that look for buried drugs, bodies and money. Even changes made to walls can easily show up in the vision of such nightvision binoculars.

Nightvision binoculars can help to spot a person standing 200 yards away on a dark night when the moon is not shining. This can greatly help in law enforcement activities.