Modern Spy Cameras

Hidden camera technology has evolved tremendously. Spy cameras and surveillance equipment once only available to government financed law enforcement agencies can now be purchased by anyone for a few hundred dollars. Today color wireless security cameras cost as little as $50 including transmitter and receiver. Most systems are ready to go out of the box and can be operational in a few minutes.

What types of cameras are available? There are three main types of spy cameras: cameras hidden in objects, pinhole spy cameras, and cameras hidden on your person. Spy cameras are usually wireless, but not always, which means they have their own power source and storage device. They are just as functional as a regular security camera, and can be setup with motion sensors and internet broadcasting. Infrared and day night versions will ensure you are covered 24/7.

The first type is security cameras hidden in objects, such as books, pictures frames, or an alarm clock. These cameras are seamlessly integrated into the object and are nearly undetectable. Cameras are most commonly used to guard homes and offices, and include nanny cams. This is the best way to find out if a spouse is cheating on you are a nanny or family member is abusing your kids. Others have found them helpful to look after elderly or special needs relatives and children playing outside.

Secondly, pinhole cameras are mini cameras that look through a very small hole commonly in a wall, desk, or piece of furniture. They may be wired or wireless and may or may not have their own storage device. Most models are about the size of a thumb nail, which makes them easy to conceal and install in tight spaces. Cameras can be hidden in literally anything. For do it yourself types there are a plethora of informative articles on how to install your own spy camera into any object. In a home setting some ideas might include a child’s toy, coffee table books, or fake plants. In a business setting many conceal cameras in office supplies, such as a calculator, stapler, or Kleenex box.

The third type is cameras hidden on your person. Gone are the days when “wearing a wire” meant cables running all over the place from batteries to cameras and microphones. Some examples include cameras hidden in a necktie, watch, ballpoint pen, purse or jewelry. These are usually used to collect evidence for criminal investigations, blackmailing, or just to keep a recording of important meetings.



About the Author: Mike Ward is the owner and operator of Protection Depot, a leading online provider of wireless security cameras and hidden cameras. For more information about security cameras, please visit www.security-cams.com.

Home Security Cameras with Night Vision

It is obvious that business or home security cameras are most useful at night. The darkness enables intruders to easily break into homes and business without being noticed, and a security camera without any night vision capability will be of little use during these hours unless the surveillance area is extremely well lit. However, by utilizing some type of night vision technology, intruders will have a very difficult time accomplishing their goal without being recorded and identified. The basic installation and monitoring is exactly the same as most other security cameras, but with night vision cameras you can always keep a watchful eye, day or night.

There are two most common types of technology used to record images in a dark environment. Both methods make use of the infrared spectrum, but utilize it in different ways. Infrared is basically a form of electromagnetic radiation, which has a longer wavelength than the light that is visible to the human eye. The color red has the longest wavelength of any visible color, and infrared has a wavelength that is even longer. Because infrared has a variable wavelength of 750 nm to 1mm, there is large spectrum of infrared light that can be used in different ways.

One way infrared is used is known as image enhancement. This night vision technology gathers small amounts of infrared light from the lower portion of the spectrum and amplifies it by many times. This makes the infrared light visible, thus revealing any objects or people. This is the same night vision method used on most night vision goggles, and it appears on the monitor to be a black and white type of image with a greenish tent.

Thermal imaging is another method of utilizing infrared light. Instead of amplifying the lower part of the infrared spectrum, it actually monitors the upper portion of the spectrum, which reveals something entirely different. The upper part of the infrared spectrum is produced by the emission of heat. Warmer things actually give off these higher spectrum infrared rays, and when amplified, they can reveal the human body by the heat it is putting out. The image produced from thermal imaging has a larger color spectrum, but the colors are associated with the amount of heat rather than the actual colors of the person or object. The warmer areas are recorded as “warmer colors” or yellows and reds, while colder areas show purples and blues. For this reason, sometimes the images can be more difficult to interpret.

Both of these technologies have been used for surveillance and home security cameras very successfully, providing security footage in the darkest of environments. If you have a dark area that poses some security concern consider installing a camera with night vision capabilities.

About the Author: Mike Ward is the owner and operator of Protection Depot, a leading online supplier of home security cameras and mini security cameras. For more information about security cameras, please visit Protection Depot.

Another Use for Infrared Cameras

Infrared cameras have been used for decades now, first by the military and shortly after by the private sector. These cameras record thermographic images from the radiation emitted by living things, so it is obvious how useful infrared security cameras might when there is not enough light to detect images. However, scientists and inventors alike are constantly looking for more uses of infrared. One of the most recent developments is for the increasingly common condition known as sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea describes a condition where an individual has trouble sleeping due to interruptions in their breathing patterns. For diagnosis a network of electrodes are attached to the head, face, chest, and abdomen of a patient. These electrodes then record the patients breathing patterns while the patient must try to sleep inside a medical lab. As you might imagine, this is a somewhat difficult way to diagnose the condition, which is why scientist have explored the option of using infrared cameras as a new solution.

If the patient already has trouble sleeping, as many as twenty electrodes attached all over their body will probably not help the situation, thus effecting the calculations of the experiment. For this reason, Dr. Jayasimha Murthy of the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, along with his colleagues, developed a new imaging system to record a patient’s breathing patterns with the use of a remote, infrared camera. Like most thermographic infrared cameras this one monitors the changes in heat signals released when the patient inhales and exhales. The point of this new innovation is to remove as many sensors that actually contact the body as possible, thus making it more comfortable for the patient and making the diagnostic process more accurate.

At this phase of development, infrared cameras used for this purpose have been measured against common electrode systems, and the results have been very similar. Murthy and colleagues have studied the data recorded from the infrared camera, at six to eight feet from the patient’s head, with 13 men and women, and the camera detected breathing problems at the same rate as the two most conventional detection methods.

Though for now, these cameras can only replace a few contact electrodes, scientists are testing this tool for other measurements as well, and hopefully contact sensors will be unnecessary in the future. Infrared is no longer for just the military, law enforcement, or business and home security cameras. It continues to prove useful in medicine, research, and development.

About the Author: Mike Ward is the owner and operator of Protection Depot, a leading online supplier of home security cameras and infrared cameras. For more information about security cameras, please visit Protection Depot.