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No, USB is a digital interface. You need some sort of computer to decode it back to analogue video. Any non-USB security camera should work. There are plenty on eBay, such as **broken link removed**. You want one that has an RCA video connector like the one pictured.
okay, great. thanks! so if i got this, i could get a male end video RCA, and put it on the input to my viewfinder it would work? does it have a low enough of a lux rating? thanks, appreciate it.
The lux rating of the camera isn't excessivly important, it simply has the ability to see light that we can't. Which is why the IR light itself is so important, without it it doesn't matter what camera you buy it won't work. That one joelby linked looks like it would work, although for distances of more than about 10-15 feet you'll probably need more LED's. LOTs more.
If you want something very sensitive, you might want to look for cameras designed specifically for infra-red and low light. You might not find these on eBay and they probably cost hundreds of dollars. A cheap camera makes a decent proof of concept, though. You can test the camera and viewfinder separately using a TV and VCR/DVD - plug the camera into the TV and you should see the output on the screen. Plug the viewfinder into the VCR's video output (or the TV, if it has an RCA video out) and play something and you should see it on that.
You could add a more powerful infra-red spotlight, but there are limits to the size of lights and batteries you can wear on your head before damaging your neck. The IR LEDs that come with cheap cameras are pretty unsatisfactory, really.
You'd have to add up the power consumption of your camera, viewfinder, and lighting system and decide how long you want it to work for. A decent level of illumination would probably consume the most power.
here are some pictures of the webcam that finally came in the mail, it looks like i could easily pop out the IR cut filter because its not directly over the lense, would it be possible to cut the viseo wires and connect them to an analog video cable? i know it would be possible but would it stream video like a regular analog cable? im trying to avoid buying another camera, so im wondering how to make this one work, any ideas would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
What are you assuming is the IR cut filter? The camera's video decoder likely either is or is directly connected to a data encoder that transmits the information via USB, there is no reason to convert it to a standard video signal in the first place, so it's not likely to have any source of composite video signal. It's impossible to tell because the pictures serve little more purpose other than as a gross physical description of the device.
Look for the largest ICs on the device give us their part numbers and take a few high resolution in focus well light pictures of the board (both sides) and there might be something else to say.
On a cheap webcam like this there may be no need for one, the IR cut filters are mostly for outdoor photography, as plant life in particular and the sky itself look dramatically different in the near IR band.
I'm linking an image bellow of a seaside scene taken on a high quality camera without an IR filter and proper exposure and ambient light blocking. As you can see the pictures are quiet dramatic.
Also I'm posting a link to an image a friend of mine took with his modified camera. His doesn't look quiet as good and has a 'hotspot' thats typicaly of modified commercial equipment which had to do with the different way IR light is reflected in the cameras lenses compared to regular light.
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