Originally Posted By GreenMushroom:
We're doing a shooting/BBQ meet-up with some guys from work soon. I'd planned on bringing my clip-on for people to check out, but looking at the weather, it's looking cool and overcast, so I'll be bringing my nox and helmet setup as well.
Since I'm bringing a helmet, it had me remembering people discussing using those pinhole covers during the day. Does this give a reasonable approximation of nighttime use and are there any risks to my tubes associated with this other than leaving something turned on pointed at the sun? Do ir lasers still work well? It'll be cloudy, so would it be a bad idea to enlarge the hole a bit and try to get my coti to work, or has anyone tried this?
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Pinhole caps are safe to use in the short term. If it were my device I would only do it under canopy and a minute tops. I just don't want to expose my tubes if it's not necessary.
If you want to be extra cautious slap a piece of tape over the hole and use a thin needle or something similar to experiment with how small you can go with a workable image. It doesn't take much in daylight. The IR lasers won't demo well at all in daylight unless maybe under a canopy at something up close. It's similar to demoing a vis laser where you will lose it in too much light.
The main difference is the pin hole works as a refocus device.
If it is so bright that you see tons of FPN whereas you normally can't even under strong IR, then I would limit exposure, although realistically the tube can take it.
Things to look out for in a group demo setting:
- Someone dropping it
- Lens cap coming off/being removed possibly causing light damage
- Solar damage if left in direct sunlight
- Being left turned on and stationary causing image burn in
If you do it, I would use a solid lens cap (put tape over the hole) for whenever it's not being used and also the pin hole cap / modified pin hole. Pull the battery when not demoing and stick it in a bag.
Last thing - in my experience, demoing nods during the day is pretty unexciting for most uninitiated people, even using actual daylight training filters. Except for for the F-BINO. The fusion overlay demos well in the daytime.