How a Low-Cost Action Camera Becomes an Infrared Night Vision Rig

Why this camera got the mod treatment

The basic idea here is simple: turn a small SJCAM action camera into an infrared night vision camera by removing the filter that blocks infrared light. That makes the camera useful for low-light work, which is why the creator was doing the mod in the first place. He said the setup was being prepared for a Ghost Texas paranormal investigation in Beaumont, Texas, and the timing mattered because the team was heading out within hours.

The creator also made a deliberate choice about risk. He said this was a mod he had seen done before on a lower-cost camera, but he did not want to try it on a more expensive GoPro. That tells you a lot about the mindset of the project: this was not a polished studio build, but a careful experiment using gear he was willing to modify.

What the creator used on the bench

The tools and parts were straightforward. He had the SJCAM SJ4000, an Ordro LN-3 infrared light, a cloth to keep the sensor covered, a blade, a Robo Grip wrapped in tape, a silver pen for marking alignment, and a hair dryer to soften the adhesive holding the lens components in place. He also had a Ulanzi power bank ready for the later power setup.

He was clear that this was not a formal product review. The focus was the process itself: how to take apart the camera just enough to make the infrared conversion work, then put everything back together without losing focus or alignment.

Removing the lens without losing alignment

The first step was practical housekeeping. He removed the battery and popped off the front face plate of the camera. After that, he marked the lens position with a silver pen so he could line everything back up later.

That mark mattered because once the lens comes off, it has to go back into the exact same spot. The creator treated that as a permanent camera mark he could live with, since getting the lens position wrong would mean trouble when it was time to refocus the camera.

To loosen the lens, he used a hair dryer rather than a workshop heating tool. He explained that the lens was secured with a bit of glue, so warming it made the lens easier to unscrew. Once the adhesive softened, he was able to remove the lens by hand instead of forcing it with pliers. That avoided the kind of crushing or slipping damage that can happen when a small lens assembly gets overhandled.

One small detail here says a lot about how careful the mod was: he placed a cloth over the exposed sensor after removing the lens. That kept the sensor protected while he worked on the next step.

Pulling the red filter from the lens

The key change that makes the camera act like an infrared setup was the tiny red filter attached to the back of the lens. The creator identified that filter as the piece that needed to come out.

He heated the lens assembly again and used the blade to work behind the filter. The adhesive around the outside of the filter was the target, not the lens surface itself. That distinction mattered, because the creator repeatedly noted that this part was the riskiest stage of the whole process. A slip here could scratch the lens.

The filter did not come out in one clean piece. It split during removal, but that did not stop the mod from being completed. He was still able to remove the glass, piece by piece, and he cautioned against touching it or getting debris on it. In his telling, this was the point where patience mattered more than speed.

Once the filter was out, the camera body was ready for reassembly. At that stage, the lens had done its job as a removable component, and the infrared block was gone.

Reassembly, focus checks, and the power plan

With the filter removed, the creator screwed the lens back into the camera body and lined it up with the silver mark he had made earlier. He noted that the thread did not go on smoothly at first, which is a reminder that small hardware mods often come down to tiny adjustments rather than big mechanical moves.

Before sealing the camera back up, he put the battery back in, powered the camera on, and checked focus through the back. If the image was off, he said he might need to make slight adjustments until the camera was properly focused again. That step is central to the whole project: removing and reseating the lens changes the camera enough that the image has to be checked before it goes into the field.

The next part of the setup was about making the camera usable during an investigation. He planned to mount the camera, connect the Ordro infrared light, and use the Ulanzi power bank to keep the infrared light charged while it was running. He also considered using a splitter so the camera itself might be powered at the same time, though he said he still needed to find out whether the camera could charge while recording.

That is the practical side of the mod. The camera is only useful if the power arrangement works in real time, not just on the bench.

What comes next for the investigation shoot

The creator ended the build portion with a clear next step: test the camera off camera, get it in focus, then show sample footage from the same video. He also said he would be using the setup for a paranormal investigation, which gives the whole project a purpose beyond the mod itself.

This is less about spectacle than usefulness. The camera is being adapted for a very specific kind of nighttime recording, and the creator’s process reflects that. He is not chasing a perfect teardown or a lab-style conversion. He is trying to get a small, affordable camera working in time for a field shoot, and he is doing it by combining careful alignment, a removable infrared filter, and an external IR light source.

For viewers wondering how to do a similar mod, the takeaway is not that the process is complex. It is that the details are unforgiving. Mark the lens position. Keep the sensor covered. Use heat to soften the glue rather than brute force. Check focus before the camera goes back into service. Those small steps are what make the difference between a working infrared night vision camera and a damaged one.