Digital Camo. Why?

S

Scott Free

Joined
Sep 15, 1999
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Obviously, the military puts a lot of research into camouflage. What do they know that Realtree doesn't? There's lots of good camo flavors out there. Anyone know the reasoning for digital camo? What do you guys think of it?
 
I have been told that digital camo can not be seen through NVG's. Don't quote me on that though, I was in the Air Force over ten years ago, before digital and when most airmen did not get to use NVG's.
 
Digital camouflage is not meant to "hide" you in the same way that mossy oak is
The purpose of the mossy oak camouflage is that you would blend in with your surroundings. It does it it very well. However with time it fades, then you stick out.

The newer style digital camouflage doesn't "hide" you in the same way. It is not necessarily intended to blend you in with your surroundings.

The purpose of the newer digital camouflage schemes is to make it more difficult to get a good bead on you.
The pattern brakes up the light being reflected into the eye. The person taking aim at you will have a harder time judging your distance and where you end in comparison to your surroundings. The enemy will still likely see you, but will have a hard time getting a good shot on you. This effect is enhanced when you are moving, or the shooter is using a scope to target you.
So it really isn't meant to "hide" you like mossy oak.
 
Thanks man, I just got schooled on it myself, I was talkin with a buddy about the new camo, and how it would fare in the jungle, or mountains....He educated me on the thought process behind it, and how it is meant for any enviroment.
 
I think it was on the History channel, but they had a really neat 'history of camo' that was quite informative. Fun to see some of the science behind it.
 
Thats exactly what it is too. Science. Alot of research goes into those patterns. Not just military, commercial too. Its interesting stuff.
 
I heard that the digital camo prevents the night vision googles (NVGs) from working effectively. The other advantage for the digital camo is that it makes depth perception more difficult and thereby keeps the enemy from getting a good shot on a soldier. The Army took the black color out of its camo because they said that people can see movement much better when black was present. (Of course, the Army being the Army, it still uses black for its patches and the like. You can really see the lack stand out when it is on the digital camo.)
 
its also why orange camo works, against most animals that see in shades of gray with eyes attuned to detail, having a pattern that blends in well works. against a human that sees in color, and is attuned to pattern, you just have to break up the pattern. thats why in the paintball woods, the mossy oak guys get seen more than the US woodland guys. but unless you are in ghillie, its really hard to hide from the human eye. I find it interesting that black is not really a naturally occurring color, so it was omitted from the new ACUPAT, MARPAT, and CADPAT patterns.
Some of the purpose specific night camo stuff is pretty cool to, I'd never have thought that black is a poor choice at night, but it seems to be from my experience.
I like hiding, good skill to have.
 
j williams said:
Thats exactly what it is too. Science. Alot of research goes into those patterns. Not just military, commercial too. Its interesting stuff.
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It's very scientific. Here's a good short read on it. http://www.hyperstealth.com/digital-design/

And if you ever need to hide from the wife..... :D

706c6ab5bc5ca91e0a3df8276deb56396g.jpg
 
The army doesn't hunt 4 legged critters.

Any camo that breaks up your pattern is fine... but the key is to simply limit your movements... just hold still. In fact, a simple khaki, brown or green works remarkably well if you just don't move very much.
 
jwilliams hit it on the head, it is all about having one pattern that will work everywhere. Wearing mosssy oak in durkdurkastan might work ok, but not as well as MARPAT
 
Scott Free said:
Anyone know the reasoning for digital camo? What do you guys think of it?
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Well one of my guess is that some of the best camos are dot camos like WWII SS camos/Flecktarn. Problem is they just look too nazi. So replace small dots by small squares and voilà: brand new efficient camo without the questionable references.
Plus the pixels look modern, cool and differentiate from other armies (well except canadians): important factors for recruitment, soldier's self esteem... factors that are not to be neglected.

As for commercial camos I'm not a great fan of realtree, but I think asat works great in a large variety of environnments.

As already pointed there are also significant differences between trying to stay completly undetected and trying to confuse enemy's aim while he knows you're here.

Smaller pixels also allow for micro-patterns and fractal camos:
http://www.hyperstealth.com/fracture/macro-micropattern.gif
 
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I heard somewhere that digital camo was designed to avoid detection by pattern recogntion software.

-- FLIX
 
SpookyPistolero said:
I think it was on the History channel, but they had a really neat 'history of camo' that was quite informative. Fun to see some of the science behind it.
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Indeed it was, and they really went in depth in explaining it. I saw it a long time ago, but I remember a ton of comparisons between digital and many other camo's under all different light and conditions. Yes the pattern was meant to fuzz your edges instead of hiding you, no continuous lines. I also seem to remember it showing it under night vision as well. That was a great episode on the history channel...I'd love to see it again.
 
j williams said:
Digital camouflage is not meant to "hide" you in the same way that mossy oak is
The purpose of the mossy oak camouflage is that you would blend in with your surroundings. It does it it very well. However with time it fades, then you stick out.

The newer style digital camouflage doesn't "hide" you in the same way. It is not necessarily intended to blend you in with your surroundings.

The purpose of the newer digital camouflage schemes is to make it more difficult to get a good bead on you.
The pattern brakes up the light being reflected into the eye. The person taking aim at you will have a harder time judging your distance and where you end in comparison to your surroundings. The enemy will still likely see you, but will have a hard time getting a good shot on you. This effect is enhanced when you are moving, or the shooter is using a scope to target you.
So it really isn't meant to "hide" you like mossy oak.
Click to expand...

Well, that really depends on whose digital camo and which patterns you're talking about. The Finnish M(20)05 digicamo was designed specifically to hide the soldier more efficiently than the older M(19)95 in typical Finnish terrain. The color pattern of the camo is designed to blend in as well as possible in the terrain colors and patterns typically seen in Finnish woods. And it does its job noticeably better than the old camo patterns. Everything else is just bonus, and really not as efficient as some people make it sound (as if the thing was freaking magic or something).

Personally, I don't think digi camo is all that. Sure, it's the latest and greatest as they say, and it does work better than the old stuff. But does that matter, when the old stuff works well enough for hunting and similar things? For active military folks, the new digi patterns are a good thing, but the rest really needn't bother - it's not that much better.
 
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