I.R. Video setup for Stage Manager

[gafftaper]

I keep building my list of equipment for the new college theater. Probably won't get some of them, but I'm going to cut the list down once I find out how much money I actually have to spend.

Anyway, after watching that backstage tour video posted in another thread I got the idea of having an infrared video system for the Stage Manager. Does anybody have one? Where do you get one? Is it sickeningly expensive? Don't know anything about it so I thought I would ask what's out there.

[soundlight]

You just get a Black and White CCTV camera that works with IR sources, and then pour a sh*tload of IR light on to your stage, and hook everything up. IR usually comes from friggin huge arrays or IR LED's.

[avkid]

Do you mean security camera type devices with IR illuminators?

Something like this is a quick and easy solution.
http://surveillance-video.com/alldi4coirni.html

[soundlight]

In general, I promote the concept of separate cameras and IR sources. You usually need much bigger IR arrays than are on the cameras for a theater.

[Van]

yeah, What they said. The cool thing about CCD's < the little things inside video cameras that "See"> is that they take Near Infra-red and infra red and "convert it to visible White light on a TV screen. Great way to test if your remote control for your TV is working or not.
I just saw an ad for Frys this weekend they had a wireless IP security camera for really cheap. I thought it might be worth trying in our stages as a way to monitor stage activity, and for me to get work done while techless techs are happening. Sorry long winded again.

[gafftaper]

Thanks. It hadn't occurred to me that security websites would be full of options. DUH! I'm thinking about just having the ability to see when the crew is clear from a dark set change or when the actors are in place. Nothing fancy, don't need to see any greater detail than when the shapes stop moving. Since it's a black box with a 17 foot high grid, I can mount the camera wherever I want to get the best angle for the show. I'm thinking I probably wouldn't need a huge I.R. array since the throw wouldn't be too far. The site Avkid posted has some little LED I.R. lights for $240 each. One or Two of those over the playing surface should probably be enough to see if people are on or off stage yet. Looks like several decent camera options for under $300... I can probably do the whole package for under $1000. That's way less than expected.

[Footer]

I have in the past hooked up a standard off the shelf camera and put it in "night vision" mode to get a cheep inferred when needed. It works in a pinch. I have worked in theatres that have a very good inferred system and they are a great thing to have around.

[fosstech]

A stage light with really saturated red+blue gels would make a much cheaper infrared illuminator. We use a Selecon Pacific 90 degree leko for our infrared illuminator. It's the only Selecon product we own. Dumps a ton of IR onto the stage, and was way cheaper than $700. The reason we used the Pacific was because of the IR mirror...it doesn't burn the gels. Some of you may say, "How will that work? The dichroic IR mirror takes out the IR!" Well, it takes most of it out. I looked up the efficiency of the mirror in the Pacific. Even with the mirror, the intensity of IR light emitted from the Pacific is more than the intensity of visible light. So get rid of the visible light via the gels (you might even be able to get a dichroic filter that does this), and you have a bright and cheap IR illuminator.

Don't know if it would burn the gel or not, but a S4 with one of the new 90 degree lens tubes might work as well, and would be cheaper than the Pacific.

[icewolf08]

It really doesn't take much IR energy to get an image even on some of the cheapie IR cameras. We don't bother with an illuminator at my theatre and the ambient IR energy from run lights and such gives us a clear enough picture. Of course this may differ from venue to venue. What would be a great solution for an illuminator would be if someone made a dichroic filter that only passed IR as it would probably be cheaper than buying a dedicated illuminator, and you would never run into burn out issues like you would with gel.

[SHARYNF]

The Night vision option on camcorders is really quite good, all you need to do is have the camera without a tape in it. If you compare the quality vs a security camera, it typically is quite a bit better.

Sharyn