When will Digital Night Vision Catch Up?

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Analog image intensifier tubes used in night vision devices have gotten pretty advanced over the years, but the underlying tech hasn’t changed since the 1930s. Digital sensors have been improving at an almost indescribable rate, but still lag behind in basic light sensitivity. How do they match up today? When will analog tubes be replaced? Is there more to consider than sensitivity?

We compared a Gen3 White Phosphor PVS-14 to a modified Sony a7s2 to find out, testing under a variety of conditions and looking at a bunch of different factors.

0:38 History of Night Vision

2:47 How Image Intensifier Tubes Work

7:02 Tube vs. Chip Comparison


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