night vision goggles
Those green pictures we see in movies and TV come from night vision goggles (NVG). NVG absorbs a small amount of visible light, amplifies it a lot, and projects it onto a display.
Cameras made with NVG technology have the same limitations as the naked eye: that is, they don't have a good line of sight without enough visible light. Imaging performance of anything that relies on reflected light is limited by the amount and intensity of reflected light. NVG and other low-light cameras are not very useful at dusk because they have too much light to work effectively, but not enough light is visible to the naked eye. Thermal cameras are not affected by visible light, so they can give you clear images even in the setting sun.
