The Electrophysics AstroScope is an add-on module mounting between your camera and lens to supply night vision to the camera's sensor with a light amplification equivalent of approx. 8-10 F-stops. Using the system does not result in any positive or negative magnification, the magnification is 1:1. Resolutions of up to 450 TV lines can be achieved. The units are powered via lens mount (0.3mW/50mA). The complete system consists of the AstroScope shell, which devides into a front lens part - the so-called Front Lens Adapter (FLA) - and a rear body part - the so-called Back Body Adapter (BBA), which simply screw into each other, and a Central Intensifier Unit to be inserted into the AstroScope shell. The CIUs actually do the optical job within the module. AstroScopes support 35mm full frame format and full electronic control of the lens through the body as well as image stabilization. In 2004 a lens element in the Back Body Adapters was replaced against an F1.3 element to improve the edge to edge sharpness. 
The following parts & packages are available:
Electrophysics Central Intensifier Units (CIUs):
 Pricing:
Note: A huge part of information about the AstroScope evolution until ~2009 was revived from files stored by Archive.org. The oldest site version stored there dates back to 2000. I can't find sources older than that, which might probably prove, that the system is indeed older than 2000. However. The CIUs' model names contain the Gen II/Gen III/Gen IV identifiers while in the description I sometimes even contrarily call them 1st, 2nd or 3rd generation. Here is why: The Gen II CIUs are based on 1970's image intensifiers technology, where Na-Ka-Sb-Cs multialkali photocathodes and the use of micro-channel plates allow for a sensitivity of about 230 µA/lm. Gen III CIUs' technology is from the 1990's, where GaAs-CsO-AlGaAs photocathodes are used, which allow for even higher sensitivity of about 900 µA/lm and greater NIR range response from 800 up to 950nm. Gen IV CIU standard is the latest available development step from 2002. The terms "1st, 2nd, 3rd generation CIU" instead refer to Electrophysics' CIU model history. Check the Wikipedia article on image intensifiers in case that's way too basic for you ;). |
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The Electrophysics AstroLasers are external lighting devices incorporating a laser, a kind of NIR speedlite. It allows photography of scenes covered in total darkness. The required amount of minimum illumination to shoot without illuminator will a bit depend on your camera's lowlight capabilities, but at the end no light is no light (image intensifiers amplify existing light, so they won't see anything without at least a tiny bit of light). Electrophysics AstroLaser 9900 (2003 - 2008):
Electrophysics AstroLaser Beam Extender 9900-BE (2005 - 2007):
Electrophysics AstroLaser ALS-20 (2003 - 2009):
Electrophysics AstroLaser ALS-20M (2009):
Electrophysics AstroLaser ALS-40 (2009 - 2012):
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Online Resources:
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The Sensors Unlimited Warrior C2S (2014 - 2016) - quite similar to the Electrophysics AstroScope - mounts between camera and lens, while, being equipped with a Canon EF lens mount at the front and Canon EF bayonet at it's rear end, the lens control stays in full charge of the camera. And that's it about the similarities, since the Warrior C2S doesn't use CIUs. It converts a standard SLR camera into a Short Wave IR imager. The unit allows to look through clouds of dust, smoke and haze as well as it allows to take photographs in almost complete darkness. The resulting pictures are therefor not colored in the green/black, but in the IR typical white/black. The units incorporate a 640HSX InGaAs array with a resolution of 640 x 512 px and a pixel pitch of 25µm for recording (that's 16 x 12.8 mm), and an 800 x 600 px SVGA display at the rear, that serves as relay display to be photo-captured by the camera's sensor. Warrior C2S Features:
Export: The products above and below as well are listed in the U.S. Munitions List USML-XII (c) and thus limited to export restrictions. |
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The Sensors Unlimited Warrior GEM system (2015) is the successor of the C2S. It consists of two modules - the basic GEM III that provides night vision capabilities and the GEM G2S as an upgrade plug-in to provide the additional SWIR imaging. The G2S uses the same sensor as the C2S.
GEM III Specs:
GEM G2S Specs:
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The Sensors Unlimited Warrior Illuminator [2014] is an external LWIR lighting device, invisible to the naked eye or to thermal imagers, that mounts directly into the hotshoe of the camera. It allows photography of scenes covered by total darkness. Features:
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