Blowing away a Lorex night vision IR camera (for less money)

I have been working on a discrete solution for the side of the house to watch wildlife over the last few years.

picture 1: this a ~ $100 Lorex SG7540B camera. Looks fuzzy since IR LED's are reflecting off the glass. The other thing you are not seeing in this pics are the millions of bugs that are attracted as soon as you turn on the camera and stream by constantly. Reading the data sheet we can tell that 2.4W power is for the LED's.

"18 High Intensity IR LEDs provide effective night vision range up to 55ft (17m)"

As a point of reference, that birch tree is probably about 30 ft...

picture 2: Bosch LTC0355 no light. Can readily be found on ebay. True 0.1 lux sensitivity and a professional camera. Since most installs have gone away from B&W cameras, they can be found for $10 on ebay. It can also be purchased new for ~ $130.

picture 3: Bosch LTC0355 illuminated by Lorex IR LED's. A better result can be had using a $10 IR illuminator off ebay.

picture 4: Bosch LTC0355 illuminated by a CNB MIR1000 (~ $80-100) which looks like a small flood light and consumes something like 16W (by comparison the Lorex consumes a fraction of this power). It has 100 IR LED's, a small fan inside to keep the LED's cool for long life and is rated at 60m.

Draw your own conclusions.

Axis (manufactured by Raytec) also has high power IR illuminators (expensive), complete with a certificate stating they are "eye safe". The issue centers around the eye not seeing IR, and thus the iris does not contract. For extremely high power and/or narrow angle illuminators (70-200W) min distances and times are sometimes stated. Raytec makes illuminators up to 120W, and they state they are safe (see below).

Thus for any IR illuminator, including (even a very low power Lorex) I am careful to never stare directly into it (at any distance) and never to work on when powered (I'd rather be on the safe side).

From Raytec:

"As part of our ongoing commitment to product quality all Raytec IR illuminators are voluntarily tested to international eye safety standards. All RAYMAX Infra-Red illuminators and FUSION IR illuminators have been independently tested by a UKAS approved test house to EN 60825-1:2001 (Europe) and IEC 60825-1:2001 (International) standards."

"All Raytec IR products including RAYMAX, PLATINUM and FUSION illuminators have been tested and classified as Class 1M laser device. A Class 1M laser device is safe for all conditions of use with the naked eye. Class 1M lasers produce large-diameter beams, or beams that are divergent. The MPE (maximum exposure time) for a Class 1M laser cannot normally be exceeded when viewed with the naked eye."

Raymax 300 ($2000+):

http://www.rayteccctv.com/products-details.aspx?productid=1