Sony 2X TeleConvertor on PVS-14

I had this nice Sony VCLHG2037X High Grade Telephoto Lens for my digital camrecorders and got a 37mm to 30mm step down ring to allow it to mount onto the objective of my PVS-14.

I have the 3X USGI lens too, but this one is just as bright and much less weight and quite often 2X is all I need to make the shot @ 200 yards at night.

It only cost $60, so a good deal, nice large objective (70mm) and ocular lens (37mm).

Most camrecorder teleconvertors are not high quality lens, this Sony is a Hi-Def lens and works really well on the PVS-14.







http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000063XWE/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00

I have one of those in 55mm, works great! MIne has a little distortion around the edge, but i think its a knock off..

Nice setup, and I bet it rapidly transfers to the rail of your rifle too!

Lol, thats my old 2nd gen ghetto setup. I have upgraded quite a bit since then.

I used a Sony 1.7x teleconverter on my Gen 3. Makes a world of difference and it is a little lighter (weight) than your setup.

Good Stuff!!!

I have a older model 2.5X High Def "Ultra Compact" Bower lens I use a 30-37mm step ring to fit PVS-14 lens. The 2.5X lens 55mm obj is much more compact(shorter length,less wide, and lighter weight) than the mil spec 3X Afocal and just as bright/clear on dark nights. The bad part is a High end Bower telephoto lens and is very costly at $200-$400 new depending on where you buy it new price. I bought mine on ebay less than $75 brand new I got lucky but you don't see them there very often. I like to use this lens do to its compact size and lite weight on my PVS-14 helmet INVG mount. I have the 14 in the tight stowed position and scan with the FLIR until I have a critter spotted. At that time I drop the 14 to the eye and IR laser the target for the shot. The 2.5X lens makes medium range targeting much,much,much better than the 1X. You can do the same thing with the Mil spec 3X afocal but its heavier and twice as long length giving you alot more forward feeling weight to the pvs-14 helmet setup. There are several good telephoto lens that work well with Nv but tons of cheap ones that suck you get what you pay for like anything else and alot of times a used mil spec 3X afocal on ebay is a better deal

The cheaper ones that Bower makes have a tiny ocular lens that destroys the usefulness of these lightweight telephoto lenses.

The ocular on my HD Sony one is about 25mm, which is huge compared to the 8-9mm on some of the cheaper ones.

If you do get a telephoto for your PVS-14, make sure it has as large an ocular as possible to feed into the objective lens of the PVS, and of course a 55 or 72mm objective on the front end works well for the most light pickup.

Like terry1, I enjoy mine for its lighter weight and still clear optics, for my backyard stand out to 225 yards the 2X Telephoto works great behind an Eotech.

For instance, this Bower is not good for the PVS, due to a tiny ocular lens of less than 9mm:

http://www.amazon.com/Bower-37mm-Thread-Telephoto-Attachment/dp/B000FO9XSG/ref=dp_cp_ob_p_title_0

So watch out what you get, the bigger the ocular and objective the better.

Good point on the ocular lens I learned that trick the hard way :). The bower I have is over 20mm also but it's a older model and listed for about 400 MSRP I also have two Sony lens which are
Nice and have bigger ocular lens.

Your Sonys ocular is 37. So would you say 37 or larger? Also will any telephoto lens attach to the 14?

Edit; I see you got a step down ring

TexasKorn67, the 37mm is the just the thread size not the true glass lens ocular size. Skypup make sthe point you can have lens that are 37mm thread size and one have a 25mm glass ocular lens the other lens only may have a 10mm glass ocular lens. Why I can't tell you its just the way the lens were designed I have notice that the cheaper telephoto lens tend to have small rear ocular glass most of the time on average. I bought a nice sony 2X telephoto that worked great on my NV so ordered another sony lens different style but still a 2X and was surpised to find it had a tiny rear lens they really killed the light Trans the lens was worthless on my NV system. Live and learn the hard way sometimes thats where its nice to get user feedback on these forums so you don't make the same mistakes some of us made in the past ;)

Yeah, check this good Sony HD lens out, I should have taken a distinct photo of the ocular lens to show just how huge it is but if you look though to the wooden table top you can actually see the ocular. This is a large ocular lens.



Crappy telephoto conversion lenses have tiny pupil sized oculars 7-9mm that completely obliterate the use of the lens (an most that have the tiny ocular lens also have crummy quality as well).

So, take home message is for NV use, the bigger both the ocular and objective lens the better.

Here is what we are taking about:

Left to Right = Bad to Good



If a picture is worth a thousand words, a lens is worth ten thousand pictures.....

Here's a few more pics notice even with the same brand ocular lens size can vary. The bower 2.5X lens I am using has the largest ocular lens of all my lens twice as large as the milspec 3X Afocal and the bower is brighter in very dark conditions. The sony 2X lens in my picture (middle size one) is a sony 2030 its a cheaper telephoto it it sucks pretty blurry image wise cheap glass. Skypups Sony is a much higher grade sony lens which is why it works well. I attached a weapon mounted bower 2.5X under the milspec 3X with eotech so you can see how a compact lens can allow you to add some Mag to your eotech setup with haveing to have tons of rail space like you need with the 3X afocal. Both the sony and bower lens I have the weight is half that of the milspec afocal and the objective lens is the same size of the Milspec Afocal. One thing I will note on on the bower 2.5X is it's the best telephoto lens I have tried personally but its a high dollar lens and the package also says its lens are coated for use with Infrared night vision video cams. I dont know if that helps or not but its brighter than the 3X afocal on dark nights but its only a 2X vs 3X also. That said to be honest the bower 2.5X seems closer to a 2X lens after compareing it to many other 2,3,5 power lens I have. I just can't see to my eye where it is giving full 2.5X when attached to my PVS-14's. I have another 1/2 dozen or so telephoto lens most of them work well also and I bought them cheap on ebay most ar 37mm ocular but I used a 30-37 metal camera step ring to attach to pvs-14 1x lens. I am glad skypup took the time to start this post I think most folks are unware the use of these telephoto lens is even possiable with their PVS-14's

Very Nice looking set of lenses!

There are not very many high quality telephoto lenses on the market and you have to be careful what you choose and get.

Like terry1 mentioned, I would look for one that is certified for use on a Sony Digital Video Camrecorder because they have two special "Night Shooting" modes that use higher level IR light and the lens will be certified for infrared lightwave transmission all the way up to about 1,200-1,400 nm IR wavelengths for their night cam use.

Think I nailed a nice cheap Telephoto lens that so far works great in the backyard, but going to take it out to my coyote stand tonight and see how well it works in the real world.

It is a Polaroid Super HD 4.5X Telephoto with a huge 70mm Objective Lens and a HUGE 58mm Ocular Lens that is IR compatible, light weight and only cost $70:

http://www.amazon.com/Polaroid-Telephoto-Includes-Digital-55-210mm/dp/B004N6UM8W

You will need a $4 30mm to 58mm step up ring to attach it to the 30mm objective lens of the PVS-14, I have mine screwed into the 760nm IR filter:

http://www.amazon.com/Fotodiox-Metal-Anodized-Black-30mm-58mm/dp/B001G402OS/ref=sr_1_15?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1338668242&sr=1-15

So far I think it is the best lens I have used on the PVS-14.

Sure beats the price of a 5x mil,spec a focal lens. Be sure to check the edge clarity !

Got some through the tube pics with these lenses?

Vic

I'll take some pics through the different lens systems later on this week.

In the meantime, the Polaroid 4.5X HD lens works fantastic mounted on the rail with using just the DBAL-I2 IR laser out past 200 yards but it sucks behind the Eotech reticule as either I have the distant background in focus and the Eotech center dot is two side by side dots, or I have the Eotech dot in focus and the far off distance is out of focus?

With the Eotech turned off and just the laser on it is very nice though, even my buddy commented that he could take out a raccoon at two hundred yards with the laser through this lens when he tried it out.

Here is a day shot of the backyard, it is 175 yards to the little Live Oak tree and 225 yards to the canopy of Slash Pines:



Here is the same shot through the PVS-14 with the 760nm IR Filter on the Objective Lens (the IR filter was on every NV shot throughout here) with no IR, no moon, about 10PM, very dark out, using the same camera setting throughout all these day and night photos....



Here is the same shot through the Eotech with the PVS-14 behind it:



Here is looking through the PVS-14 with IR Fitler with the Polaroid 4.5X HD Telephoto lens through the Eotech:



Here is looking through the PVS-14 with IR Filter with the Polaroid 4.5X HD Telephoto through the Eotech with the Eotech Reticule turned off using the DBAL-I2 IR 0.7mW laser:




Not too shabby for $60, I kinda like the 4.5X Telephoto with the DBAL-I2 IR Laser out to 200 yard or so....

These Telephoto lenses really are a nice setup for shooting off a stand, just like having a NV magnified scope, but not as good for hiking and hauling around on foot through the woods as a dedicated NV scope would be.

There is also a LDI DBAL-I2 mounted on the monolithic top rail in front of the Eotech on this rifle, in case anyone is wondering what that appears to be.

When the DBAL-I2 IR laser is on, there is also a small green led that lights up on the back of the unit that lets you know it is operational, however it will show up in the NV view unless you put a small piece of tape over the led to prevent the green led from contaminating your NV view. It does not interfere with my view that much so I took the tape off so I would know when the laser unit is operating.

Here is the Sony 2X HD Telephoto through the Eotech @ 175 yards with the 760nm IR filter on the PVS-14 objective lens:




Here is the Sony 2X HD Telephoto with the Eotech off using the LDI DBAL-I2 IR 0.7mW laser with 500 mW IR Iluminator with the 760nm IR filter on the PVS-14:




Here is the Sony 2X HD Telephoto with the Eotech on using the 500mW IR Illuminator to view a Cottontail Rabbit @ 75 yards with the IR filter on:



His eye is reflecting back the IR right above the center dot inside the Eotech reticule.

That 4.5X Polaroid is not too shabby for $60, especially considering that a USGI Mil-Spec 5X costs about $1,000....

I especially enjoy the 2X Sony for overall use though, it is just perfect for my 200 yard night coyote and hog hunts.

One shot kill on a coon @ 175 yards using the Sony 2X Telephoto lens.

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