How to turn normal webcam into infrared cam

[Manticorp]

Ok this is a little guide is a how to for converting a normal everyday webcam into an infrared sensor, allowing you to see the invisible infrared lights that emit from infrared sources, such as normal light, sun, remote controls, infrared phones etc ;)

please excuse picture quality, pics were taken with my 7610 ^^;

What You'll need~:

compatible Digi cam
Tiny Screw Drivers
xacto knife or similar or scissors
Very Black Photo Negatives, (as black as you can find, usually where there have been processing mistakes or something)

optional:
tweezers
glue(?)

Ok here goes nothing...
http://img141.echo.cx/img141/1559/image3082qf.th.jpg (http://img141.echo.cx/my.php?image=image3082qf.jpg)

Start by taking apart your webcam and taking a peek inside it ^^

On the circuit board you should see a small-ish black circular thing...that's the lense, remove it if possible :P

http://img141.echo.cx/img141/8227/image3119aj.th.jpg (http://img141.echo.cx/my.php?image=image3119aj.jpg)

You should see the sensor underneath it, try not to touch anything around it just in case :P

http://img141.echo.cx/img141/467/image3129du.th.jpg (http://img141.echo.cx/my.php?image=image3129du.jpg)

You see that reddish or Greenish tint the lense has to it? No? then you may be able to skip a few steps :P if you do then carry on ^^ right now...we want to get rid of this reddish tinted thing...that is what blocks out IR light on most cams :P

If you're lucky enough the thing just pops out with some leverage, if not, try scratching it off very lightly, if it's still not happening, use you're intuition and see if there's any other ways, if it STILL doesn't work...oh well :P hard luck

http://img141.echo.cx/img141/3096/image3136xw.th.jpg (http://img141.echo.cx/my.php?image=image3136xw.jpg)

Now that we have the tinted blocker out, put it to one side, now, cut out a bit of black negative that will fit over the lense and uhh...put it over the lense ^^ preferably on the inside, but it works if you blu-tac it on the outside or something too :P

http://img141.echo.cx/img141/9181/image3167oh.th.jpg (http://img141.echo.cx/my.php?image=image3167oh.jpg)
http://img141.echo.cx/img141/8248/image3180gx.th.jpg (http://img141.echo.cx/my.php?image=image3180gx.jpg)

Now...assemble it back together and there you have it, your own Infrared webcam ^^ which can produce some interesting effects, and if you have some infrared lights on things like remotes, or phones, then you can light things invisibly! :) great fun ^^

Here are some weiiird pics taken with the infrared:

http://img227.echo.cx/img227/5895/image11no.th.png (http://img227.echo.cx/my.php?image=image11no.png) Me with black hair and a black shirt :P

http://img227.echo.cx/img227/5997/image32sv.th.png (http://img227.echo.cx/my.php?image=image32sv.png) My Black Keyboard being lit by only a TV remote ^^

http://img227.echo.cx/img227/6227/image96sq.th.png (http://img227.echo.cx/my.php?image=image96sq.png) A normal photo of me and my g/f under infrared, completely blank! weird... :P

Post successes or questions here! I would like to see all your infrared photos :P

[Zilver D]

hi there manticorp,
after i saw this article i converted my sweex webcam to!
sweex rebuild 003
put a thin knife between the ball and brake it open not with to much force.
than take every piece out off the ball and disconnect the cables.
sweex rebuild 007
than you have the hardware out off the ball the plastic thing wich you can turn wil falout. :confused:
you dont have to unscrew the lens itself ,this lens you can turn out of the holder.sweex rebuild 009
after that there`s a inercirle wich you can pick out with a thin knife, behind that you will find the colored lens. :eek:
replace it with the stuff explained by Manticorp .
putt it all back in place and lett the fun begin.
i will add some pictures of me playing with it but i have to convert the pictures before i can post them.
oke you will have noticed that my writing is beyond of perfect i will have to practice and it will become better in tha futere i hope you understand what i wrote down,then my mission is complete. :cool:

GREATS FROM Zilver D. :beer:
p.s how do i get the images on the wright place!!!??? :spy: :confused: :confused:

[Andreesie]

@Manticorp
wich part of the photo u have to use?
the part wich is on the side of the photo,
or a part of the photo self?

[shozzi]

If you want to see a video showing the whole transformation process (standard webcam --> infrared cam), you can look at here:

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/385098/trasform_your_webcam_into_an_infrared_cam/ (http://www.metacafe.com/watch/385098/trasform_your_webcam_into_an_infrared_cam/)

It has nice examples at the end :jump: