Interesting mod, useful to take photos of animals at night with an IR spotlight

Neat idea - small screen, put into binoculars-like mount, connected to N900's TV-OUT, and bundled with powerful pack of IR diodes. N900, of course, with IR modified camera module.

Result:
N900 turn-able into NightVision set, with surprisingly good quality/price ratio. All You need is to replace day-photo module to prepared IR one (require ~20 gram small screwdriver with two tips) - can be done in 3 minutes, when You gain experience with quickly assembling and disassembling device - and, plugging binocular's plug into TV out.

With some smart construction, whole set may be extremely lightweight, ultra-portable (to the point of always having it with Yourself), and non-requiring another, dedicated N900 (compatible with main device Youi're using everyday.
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Crazy idea for my personal variant of custom body replacement - mechanism for camera module quick-swap, without need to disassemble whole body. Just "click", and camera module is removed. Another "click", and 2nd one is back in place

I don't think it would meet widespread usage, but for me, personally, it's another overkill feature.

/Estel

I do not, this is my stepping stone into the world of IR.

Is this possible to do with the N900? Or would it be a hardware problem? Basically, what must be done to get this clear?



This is with FCamera at >5M

As I've said earlier, manual focus settings have nothing do with it - Your camera module just got damaged during removal/mounting. All of quoted things are related to *auto*focus. When You set focus manually, to "infinite" (>5m), You should get good results, no matter what. Unless Your camera module canmt physically - move lens as requested, which is, sadly, the case here.

As said earlier (again) I have no idea why focus mechanism is so fragile - I got same problem on my camera module, without opening it, at all. Just removing it from motherboard was enough to damage it.

It's, probably, the case, why service manuals say "never use the same module after removal" (like they do with screws). I'm quite sure, that with enough care and luck, one can remove module safely. Same applu for dedicated module removals, which are exorbitant'ly overpriced.

The thing is, that I have no freakin' idea why it get damages so easidly on the first place - dedicated removal tool doesn't perform any magic, it just disable two mechanical locks, and pull module off. The same should be achievable without removal tool, and despite looking at module from every angle, I just can't find a way it could get damaged, when so carefully removed, as I did.

Yet, it is screwed, both in my and Your case. Which is major roadblock for now, as we need to find non-damaging way of replacing it (by avoiding touching some fragile part, etc - need to first identify, what is directly responsible for damaging it).

/Estel

Got it,


I put in a .5mm clear plastic square in place of where the filter was originally.

But what have changed? You're implying, that focus started to work as it should?

No matter what, great photo!

Focusing always worked, it would just be out of focus for distant objects, the focusing still happened. Replacing the original IR filter with a clear "filter" fixed the focusing problem at distance.

The particles on the sensor is annoying, though.

Hey guys,

I dont have an N900(I have an N9), this is damn interesting, Anyway, just wanted to share some wishful thinking ..

I remember during the old days when I had an N73, there was an add-on Flash accessory(PD-2)

Just had me thinking, it would be nice to have on my phone and if its possible to have a flash, it might be possible to have a camera module as well... But that would take software and some major mods to the OS itself I assume.

Edit: Even if this idea might not be totally practical... there are other things that must be possible in this direction...

Unfortunately, original camera modules for N900 are quite impossible to disassembly.

Following azkay's photos, I just did a run on tearing down my faulty module (nothing to loose, as it was screwed already) - first of all, pictures doesn't match, original module looks quite differently.

Second, it's not humanly possible to disassemble it from downside and remove filter, without literally tearing it down. It's made "Chinese way" - once for eternity.

I suppose, that azkay modified it successfully on replacement module, so it's probably possible to use those. They're not original, of course, and that bring possibility of worse picture quality for normal photos - but, for NightVision, it shouldn't matter. I might give it a try, after finishing replacement body project - it might be feasible to use original module for normal photos, and modified replacement one for night vision.

/Estel

// Edit

just a wild guess, but I might have found reason, why focusing mechanism got damaged during removing module. Moving focusing lens occur due to copper spiral on moving part, which is enclosed in magnetic field of camera module's case. Actually, case contain 4 neodymium magnets, and copper spiral on lens is connected via ultra-thin wire, to module base (where matrix is located). When in use, copper ring becomes electro-magnet, and it strength is controlled by module, which result in ultra-precise control of lens distance.

Now, Using advice from this very forum, I've used shaving blade (old type) broken into two, to disable locks, that keep module in place of N900's motherboard. Such blades are heavily prone to magnetic power. It's possible, that their effect on magnetic field cause lens to move out of it's defined range, bending part of *very* delicate spring mechanism, that is part of force, controlling lens position (spring push into one side, and electromagnetic copper ring into another).
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After tearing down whole module to pieces (literally0, I can't see anything else, that could get damaged during removal. So, again, it's a guess only, but I suspect that using non-metallic (plastic, ceramic) thin things to disable locks, should grant safe removal of module. I would avoid using anything metallic to remove it, and keep than in mind during storage (outside N900's body).

/Estel