"Boroscopes" also spelled "Borescopes" and known as "Endoscopes" (Medical Term) are optical devices designed for peering inside inaccessible areas, cavities, pipes, holes, etc. to view internal conditions. The major benefit of using these instruments other than the obvious of a small outside diameter of the optical components- is that they have a very large depth of field. Unlike another popular visual inspection device the microscope; Borescopes have a long in-focus range- in many cases from 1-2mm (.040"-080") from the tip all the way to infinity. For example, this means if you were to look through the boroscope at a business card on your desk you could move the tip very closely to view your middle initial on the business card in full focus, filling the total viewing area or "viewport" with the letter. Then pick up the scope and look across the room at a large bulletin board. At both distances away from the object you are looking at, both objects would be in focus and at completely different magnifications or enlargements. Below are a variety of images taken to illustrate various viewing conditions with a standard borescope attached to video imaging equipment. Another requirement of course is lighting. To see both the bulletin board and business card- assumes you were using the scope in ambient lighting. Since these scopes peer into dark areas typically- where light must be injected or pumped into the area to be viewed- most likely, you would not be able to see the bulletin board unless it were less than a couple of feet from the borescope. The reason for this is that most borescopes carry their own lighting system to the tip, right along side of the viewing optics. Since borescopes are a small diameter, this area of fiber optics that carries the light out to the tip of the scope is very small. To increase lighting, manufacturers have devised various options to increase the viewing distance, color of the light and intensity of it. Move your mouse over each image to view the caption and click on any that you would like to enlarge to full screen.
Go to NEXT PAGE of our Borescope Image Archive to view different types of video images which were taken with borescopes, fiberscopes and fiberoptic video image equipment and videoscope imaging units.
