You may find that you have a
view of a window with the curtains wide open, but no lights are on. A
night vision viewer/scope requires very little available light. Many of
them even come with an infrared enhancer (basically an LED). I've used
one, and when you press the button to turn on the LED, it's like the
difference between night and day. Even without it, objects that are all
but invisible to the naked eye show up.
There are a couple of problems, though. The first is expense. You can
build your own viewer (See very cheap kit or expensive ones .). You can buy a
professional unit, but then you run into cost. The unit I tested is a
Russian-made device, available to the public in the $500-$600 range. Whew!
The one you can make will probably run close to $200, so I'd say that if
you were determined to have night vision, forget about building one and go
ahead and buy a really good one.
The second problem is quality. You've probably seen the reports on the
news where the Border Patrol is watching for illegal aliens or the PBS
crew is out filming nocturnal hyenas or something. That's what you'll see
-- maybe. Bear in mind that the Border Patrol is using equipment that is
ten times more sophisticated than what is available to the public, and
even then what you see is green and grainy.
If you go the night vision route, you'll see mainly forms and not a lot of
detail. You will be able to tell the female is undressing, but unless
you're pretty close, you won't be able to see much.
The LED that is used is visible from the other end if the person happens
to be looking in the right spot. They may not connect it to anything, but
then again they might. Always be aware of your surroundings. You can be
seen at night, and with the criminal climate such as it is, you could find
yourself in a bunch of trouble.
You should probably be aware that carrying night vision equipment may be
considered in the same class as lock picking tools. I'm relatively sure
that any law enforcement official questioning you would demand to know
what the hell you were doing with night vision scopes, skulking around in
people's yards. I don't offer any legal advice on the subject. There may not
be any relevant laws in your area, as the technology is fairly new to the public, but laws have never
stopped any cop from confiscating things and/or hauling you in based on
his opinion. Always play it safe. And for heaven's sake, DON'T do
anything like flashing the LED at the officer. A few years ago a kid
playing "Lazer Tag" was shot and killed in Louisiana. The police were
responding to a prowler call, the officer saw the red light from the Lazer
gun and thought he was being aimed at by a laser sight.
You'd have to be a pretty serious voyeur to spring for professional equipment. On the upside, you may be able to sell your videos (if you tape it all) to sites on the Internet that might buy it - thereby recouping some of the cash outlay.