So ive reasoned that if i cover a hat, toque, or ski mask in enough IR led’s out of salvaged remote controls and provide a proper power supply, I can render the wearer functionally invisible to night vision (IR) cameras. I imagine there’s a lucrative market for such a thing.
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You’d shine like a lighthouse. Great idea. It also doesn’t affect thermal cameras btw.
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It’s quite the opposite. That used to be the case with the earliest models of CCTV. I’ve watched an episode on Hawaii 5-0 where the bank robbers wore IR-necklaces. Nowadays all CCTV cameras have IR-filters that block IR-light.
I’ve made IR goggles from a VR headset, an old smartphone, and an even older webcam from which I removed the IR filter. As light source I used an old flashlight with an 850 nm Osram IR-led. I can see clearly in total darkness. Bystanders see a faint red dot when the light shines in their direction.
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If you want to defeat thermal cams, insulation or reflectors like mylar work well. If you want to defeat IR in general, a very aerated/fluffy ghillie suit works well. Something that shares similar lustre characteristics to fur and shrubbery. The more, longer, and finer strands the better. There’s a couple of foxes with 4ish inch hairs that are basically blurry blobs on my night mode on cheapo wifi cams. I imagine that if you can adapt to match the backdrop, that would work best. And move super slow.
Also, if you feel a sudden hot piercing sensation while sneaking in my yard, just know that I do have countermeasures for such tactics 
Usually people are much hotter than the surrounding environment at night. On a thermal camera, people stand out because they emit more heat than the surroundings. No amount of IR LEDs can hide this. The only way that might work would be if the surroundings were hotter than the people trying to hide.
I saw a Youtube video a year or so ago where someone tested different methods of trying to hide from thermal cameras. They discovered:
- Anything close to the body, like a mylar poncho, will inevitably heat up from conducted body heat and shine in a thermal camera. This applied no matter what the covering was made of.
- By far the best method was to take cover behind an umbrella pointed towards the camera. Because the cover from the umbrella isn’t touching the body it stayed at the same temperature as the surroundings, while blocking the camera’s view of the heat emitted by the one hiding.
A mylar wall, with a thin layer of wool, will obscure you from a thermal camera but not necessarily from a night vision IR…you’ll probably show up as a large white blob. If you want to be imperceptible, you’d have to do your best to match whatever the backdrop is. If the ambient temperature is freezing, a ghilli-esque surface mounted on an insulated mylar wall would probably hide you if your backdrop is grass, or something similarly chaotic/stranded. If there’s snow out, even better, dig yourself a little tunnel.
**this is a fox.
In the full video, it looks merely like a blur.
Haha, ok, noted and yard avoided. I guess im tunneling into your place. I hadnt considered thermal. Interesting, so your saying instead of overwhelming it with IR light, your suggesting wearing non reflective, light absorbing/diffusing material? Interesting
Blob is basically what i was going for, invisible was a poor choice of word
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On A related line of reasoning, i considered shining my 5watt violet laser directly at a camera for a minute would quite probably fuckin fry most all cameras
So yoir saying all cctv cameras nowadaybare useless at night?
No, I didn’t. I’ve got a wildlife camera that operates in daylight and at night. In daylight it uses an IR-filter.
When daylight is over, it switches over to the built-in IR lights, and the IR blocking filter in the lens slides away.
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This would definitely work, lol…the issue is that burning a camera sensor would constitute destruction of property, and if the camera goes down, “they” will know for sure that someone is there.
A very specific type of diffusing/absorbing material, but not “vantablack” level. To be honest, I’ve never tried vantablack, but I assume that too much absorption would start heating up the material and make it shine brightly with heat anyways. But if you take a look at that pic I clipped from a night shot, that thing with the dark nubbins is a fox. If its feet had been similarly covered with fur, it’s likely that the camera would’ve only seen a fart in the wind. I guess either super reflective or super scattering.
I do hope you’re not planning on illegal/trespass activities, I will assume that you like taking nude strolls in the back yard and don’t want the night cameras catching you.
Do not be naive, this thread reeks of “non kosher” intent, the way I see it. do not become an accessory by giving advices. I mean to walk by a camera undetected/unidentifiable, a laser to fry the camera, totally legit and reasonable things anyone would do lol, no, not really. . …It isn’t the first time someone asks that on flashlight forums.
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What??!? Did someone say diffusing material?
We could wrap you head to toe with dc fix . Showing a softer side of you . Maybe when you stand before the judge he will see you in a different light .
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Idk how how IR emitters work against cameras, but I’ve heard that lemon juice works as invisible ink, so smearing it over your body probably makes you invisible to cameras and people alike. Give it a shot and let us know how it goes~
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But beware of open fire and/or high temperature. Just like the text on paper, you will become visible again if the hold you over a fire.
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This is a little off tangent, but what effect would a big bushy beard like Santa have on facial recognition cameras? I’ve seen videos where people try sunglasses and reflective clothes similar to those mentioned above to fool the IR sensors with varying degrees of success but haven’t seen any mentions about beards.
Beard will affect, it hides several reference points for face recognition, but no guarantee, FR software is getting better and better, as for glasses, those that block IR light will make it harder for FR to identify you, but those are special glasses, regular ones, no matter how dark or polarized, otoh, will pass ir light, but again, there are dozens of points of reference on a face , it may or may not work. Santa beard and glasses would work better. also even with glasses, someone that knows you may recognize you from cctv footage and ID you.