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Smartphone LED detects hidden cameras with AI

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Re: Smartphone LED detects hidden cameras with AI

#81

Can't a thermal camera can do this? It should be able to detect any difference in ambient temp, even a few degrees, and a CMOS sensor gets warm, not to mention any wireless transmitters, power sources, and ICs. Turn off everything in the room and walk around with a ~$100 ali express handheld thermal camera.

Ideally yes but in practice thermal cameras measure radiance not temperature and different materials are more or less radiant; putting a camera behind a wall blocks the signal or at least diffuses it; the resolution+SnR are not great at consumer price point; and background objects can be surprisingly warm. For example a tree at night can be about the same temperature as a wireless camera attached to that tree. So in the best case it can work to see power-inefficient devices out in the open, but isn't useful under many real world conditions

Re: Smartphone LED detects hidden cameras with AI

#82
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, thinking about it, you could probably defeat the optical retroreflection detector by putting the camera behind a Faraday rotator (optical isolator). But those are quite expensive and you'd need to be really paranoid to use one, plus it'll only really work well if you match the wavelength of the laser.

You could also put the camera behind a laser safety goggle lens that blocks the laser in question :)

Oh yeah... that's much simpler.

Re: Smartphone LED detects hidden cameras with AI

#83
post #5
post #4

If this worked with IR, and so non visible, it might be even more useful. Great idea though.

But then you would need an IR camera instead of using the phone's camera. An IR camera should be able to find some hidden cameras passively by detecting a heat source.

Most phones have no problem detecting IR up to the wavelength of the cheap leds used in blasters.

Re: Smartphone LED detects hidden cameras with AI

#84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For Meta they need to detect people giving wearers the finger to stop the glasses from recording or taking pics ha I do wear my Metas frequently though would never get the finger cause Im not a creep.

That sucks to hear, i wish you were getting shamed more frequently in public

For what taking pics when skiing, kayaking and other times when my hands aren't free and Im already wearing glasses. For taking pics of nature and taking pics of friends and family whom asked for a picture?

Let's see if Google/Samsung's upcoming smart glasses releasing Fall 2026 get as much flack as Meta who many techies hate Meta/Facebook.

Re: Smartphone LED detects hidden cameras with AI

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sucks to hear, i wish you were getting shamed more frequently in public

For what taking pics when skiing, kayaking and other times when my hands aren't free and Im already wearing glasses. For taking pics of nature and taking pics of friends and family whom asked for a picture? Let's see if Google/Samsung's upcoming smart glasses releasing Fall 2026 get as much flack as Meta who many techies hate Meta/Facebook.

I hope so!

Re: Smartphone LED detects hidden cameras with AI

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sucks to hear, i wish you were getting shamed more frequently in public

For what taking pics when skiing, kayaking and other times when my hands aren't free and Im already wearing glasses. For taking pics of nature and taking pics of friends and family whom asked for a picture? Let's see if Google/Samsung's upcoming smart glasses releasing Fall 2026 get as much flack as Meta who many techies hate Meta/Facebook.

> taking pics when skiing, kayaking and other times when my hands aren't free

GoPros are great for that. You can get one that is small enough to stay out of the way, have a more secure mount than glasses and a recording device that doesnt try to hide the fact that its a camera.

Re: Smartphone LED detects hidden cameras with AI

#87
post #36

People normally do this by scanning a 10mW 832nm laser with a mirror, according to Dan Gelbart in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MtRxX0crjU . The lecture is 77 minutes, covering nonlinear junction detectors, digital calipers, the US-embassy bug in Russia, laser microphones bounced off windows, and geometric errors from material relaxation. The bit about camera detectors is close to the end. Works for eyeballs too.…

Don't forget his semi-recent shop tips and machining tricks videos: https://www.youtube.com/@dgelbart

Re: Smartphone LED detects hidden cameras with AI

#88
post #4

If this worked with IR, and so non visible, it might be even more useful. Great idea though.

Pining for the days when phones had IR blasters (e.g. galaxy s6); that would work perfectly for this

The HP 48G series graphing RPN calculator had such a powerful, software-controllable IR LED with a learning remote program someone wrote that could control TVs roughly 70' / 20 m away as long as the TV had a sensitive enough IR receiver circuit. Some hijinks might've happened in the physics lecture hall but no exams or lectures were harmed.

Re: Smartphone LED detects hidden cameras with AI

#89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our culture has definitely changed from when Google Glass wearers were referred to as Glassholes. It appears that more people have just accepted that they will be filmed anywhere and everywhere. I miss the old days.

We went from opt-in zones to opt-out zones. Living spaces with curtains drawn and the inside of your vehicle should really be opt-in though.

Your comment reminds me of the old Google Opt Out Village video from The Onion

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lMChO0qNbkY

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