So, after my Blink camera failed by getting rain inside the "weatherproof" housing I've fitted its replacement with a silicone sleeve with a little hood. However, the hood extends into the camera's field of vision... and bounces back the infrared night-vision illuminator. It still works, but you've got a bright stripe to the side and you can see the lens reflecting off its cover. I figured there's an easy solution: pop something which is non-reflective (or, at least, less-reflective) to IR on the hood. Trouble is... what? I can find plenty of reflective tape. I can find plenty of IR reflective stuff (mostly for military IFF in night-vision scenarios.) I can find non-reflective tape... but I can't find non-IR-reflective tape. Does it not exist? Is my DuckDuckGo-fu failing me? Has it just been a really, really long week and i should stop worrying about it and go to bed?
GH is this Reddit thread any use? Apart from the obvs Vantablack or similar, flock was mentioned as per the esteemed @mrlongbeard and anti slip grip tape - how about a smidge of coarse wet & dry??
So what I'm hearing here is: get a bunch of stuff, wait 'til nightfall, then wave them at the camera and see what shines the least...
Black chalkboard paint is usally recomended for minimising reflections, you could also check out astronomy forums, they deal with IR reflections inside telescopes. House hold items that might also work - black sponge or loop part of black velcro.
The trouble is with IR, is that visible non reflection or 'looking black' is no guarantee that all will be well in the IR wavelength range. I remember Leica had to retro issue IR cut filters for one of the early ££££ M digital bodies as they made some clothing look odd which reflected IR.
Yeah, that's the problem I'm facing: the silicone cover is matte black. Just... not in IR. (Although, to be fair, if I shone a bright torch right next to it I'd blind myself too, so...)
