ATM Viper X-1 Night Vision Goggles Review

[Greg]

After reading multiple post on the forum about using an IR viewers in the darkroom, purchased an ATN Viper X-1 Night Vision Viewer off Amazon.com.


Overall..............

ATN stands for American Technologies Network. The only thing American about this product is that the text is in English. Nowhere is it even noted from where the product originates.

Text on box "Night Vision Goggles"... is a single one eye vision Goggle, but that's really nitpicking.

Packaging and IB are minimal & cheap.

Headgear is an abomination of multiple velcro straps with a chin cup.. Directions for adjusting it to your head size are simply written but I found to not easy to execute. I ended up adapting the unit to the front of my Edelrid rock climbing helmet. In doing this discovered that 2 mounting screws were cross threaded in the very soft metal. In the end had to use some J-B WELD to make the whole adaption to the helmet solid. Helmet is a lot more comfortable and goggle lot more stable then used with the supplied headgear.

Guarantee card has a line for the serial number - so far haven't been able to find a serial number on the unit.

Eyepiece Diopter focus and front lens focus instructions... better just use your common sense to adjust them... Instructions obviously written for general public.


Performance and comments.............

Eyepiece has to be lot closer your eye than you would initially think.

Unit's IR light has no effect on FP-4.

Angle of view seems very narrow, but from my research having a wider angle of view would have cost me X10 the cost of the Viper. Easy to deal with after using the unit 2 or 3 times.

Depth of field of the front lens akin to a f/1.0 optic. But to be realistic, I'm using it at rather close distances and it just focuses like a lens on a camera.


My opinion of the product........

Absolutely love it. All these past years had to work with panchromatic film in total darkness. Now I actually can see what I am doing!!! Still prefer to load roll film by feel in the dark. After having loaded many thousands of rolls of film onto reels in the dark, has become a no-brainer (like signing my name) while listening to music. But come to loading sheet film into Jobo tubes, hand processing several sheets of film in a tray, or even loading sheets of film into sheet film holders now will always use the IR scope making it all so much feaster and easier. I process my film using a screened mesh basket that holds 6 vertical sheets of film in separate compartments. No matter how careful I was, very often loaded two sheets in the same meshed slot and both sheets of film were ruined. With the IR scope, seems now impossible to do.

Up to last fall and Ilford's offering special large format film offering, I had to cut 8x10 sheet film down to Whole plate size in the dark. Very much of a challenge... 1mm to wide and the film wouldn't fit in the holder, few mm's too short and the film would fall out of the holder. It all was very frustrating.

Would I buy it again... absolutely a totally firm YES. I envision that after a few more months of using it, will opt for a more expensive IR scope with a wider view.

Greg

[Bob Mann]

Mine has a lens cap with a small hole, I use this almost all the time for greater depth of field - have you tried this?

[c.d.ewen]

FYI: keep a spare set of batteries at hand.

Charley

[Duolab123]

I'm not a Viper user but I LOVE THIS STUFF, anyone that doesn't play around with this is missing a lot of fun and an amazing technology that even 10 years ago would have cost Thousands.

[Duolab123]

[Gord Robinson]

Yes the instructions are lacking especially about the head gear assembly but overall I agree with you that the end result is worth the effort. I use it for loading film and getting hangers into my sink line set up for B&W and E6. I like the fact that this Viper model has a black and white image rather then the normal green image and makes things seem a little more normal. I haven't found a serial number either. It's definitely a good idea to keep an extra set of batteries close by. I also take it along when we go out camping.

Gord

[Duolab123]

Yes the instructions are lacking especially about the head gear assembly but overall I agree with you that the end result is worth the effort. I use it for loading film and getting hangers into my sink line set up for B&W and E6. I like the fact that this Viper model has a black and white image rather then the normal green image and makes things seem a little more normal. I haven't found a serial number either. It's definitely a good idea to keep an extra set of batteries close by. I also take it along when we go out camping.

Gord

My setup has black and white,and green, blue etc. I always leave it in black and white mode. One time I switched on the room lights and to my surprise with visible light it's a full color LED display, Hilarious. Of course, probably would cost extra for a plain monochrome. I'm still working (part time) but I will be done in less than 3 years (or sooner) I may try finding some parts or disassembling a couple of these darn things and try to make a wide field, stereo IR viewer.

[Greg]

"I ended up adapting the unit to the front of my Edelrid rock climbing helmet. In doing this discovered that 2 mounting screws were cross threaded in the very soft metal. In the end had to use some J-B WELD to make the whole adaption to the helmet solid. Helmet is a lot more comfortable and goggle lot more stable then used with the supplied headgear."

Photo of rig attached

[dpn]

Any issues with light leaking out from the eyepiece?

I love my $25 "Eyeclops Night Vision," but I tighten the flimsy strap on my head *super* tightly to get a light seal around the eyepieces. It's painful (I use a 120 reel on the back to wind it down really tightly). And manual focus combined with a really narrow field of view has me thinking about an upgrade.

[Duolab123]

Any issues with light leaking out from the eyepiece?

I love my $25 "Eyeclops Night Vision," but I tighten the flimsy strap on my head *super* tightly to get a light seal around the eyepieces. It's painful (I use a 120 reel on the back to wind it down really tightly). And manual focus combined with a really narrow field of view has me thinking about an upgrade.

Yikes, pain is part of analog Yes these thing have a very narrow field of view. Yes, I use Bungee cords to hold to my head to seal to my face. Yes they fog up in warm weather.

Some Super genius needs to come up with an auxiliary lens that will attach to the front to give wide angle. Even better, two IR cameras and two view screens for depth perception. I just sit down so I don't hurt myself get everything arraigned and go slow. Makes loading sheet film reels a snap, I even use this for loading film holders anymore. I'm a total junkie as when I was a kid something like this was only available to the CIA or NASA types. I want to see more of this stuff.
Mike