After many years of use, the image intensifier tube (IIT) in the image intensifier system that I use for my experiments in quantum physics developed some nasty half-moon shadows in the periphery, so I decided to rebuild it with another MX-10160-type IIT. I documented the build in the following document: diy Image Intensifier System Prutchi
Category Archives: NIR Near IR Imaging
Near-Infrared (850 nm) Pictures of the Nasca (Nazca) Lines in Peru
My daughter Abigail and I recently took a trip to Peru. Along my Canon 6D, I took my modified Canon T1i so that I could take UV and IR pictures. For our flight over the Nasca Lines I built a bracket to hold the cameras side-by-side, and rigged them to fire simultaneously when one of the shutter releases was depressed.

Here I am with my cameras mounted on a diy bracket to take pictures simultaneously in visible and near-IR
d.i.y. High-Power, Swappable-Head, UV/IR/Visible LED Flashlight with Intensity Control
Some time ago I needed a high-intensity UV/IR/visible light source for a work-related industrial inspection project, so I recruited Abigail to help me build a 10W LED flashlight that features swappable UV/IR/visible heads. We decided to document the build since this flashlight would fit nicely in a photographer’s kit for light painting, IR illumination, UV reflected photography, or UV fluorescence photography.
Our flashlight is based on LedEngin’s LZ4-40____ series 10W LEDs. These are available in wavelengths ranging from the infrared through the ultraviolet. White-light LEDs of different color temperatures are also available as part of this series.
WARNING! This flashlight is capable of producing very powerful invisible radiation in the UV and IR. The eye’s protection reflexes do not work at these wavelengths, and may thus cause extensive damage if exposed to direct or specular illumination. Never point this flashlight at anyone without taking proper precautions!
DOLPi-UI – a diy UVIR/Polarization Imager
I developed the DOLPi-UI filter-wheel-based all-mode camera capable of working in the infrared-visible-ultraviolet range both for imaging and polarimetric analysis. I added a FLIR Lepton® module to extend the camera’s imaging capability (though not polarimetry) to the longwave IR (“thermal” IR).
DOLPi-UI is based on the Raspberry Pi NoIR camera, two servos, two filter wheels, a servo hat, and a Raspberry Pi 2.