I was thinking about those outfits celebrities wear that mess with flash photography equipment, and I was watching a dude on TV just now whose shirt pattern was going apeshit because of the camera, and I wondered if there could ever be a pattern or material that, when filmed, caused the camera irreversible damage. And if that were physically possible, I wondered if intentionally showing up to camera-heavy events wearing said shirt would constitute a crime on my part.
It’s just a shirt after all. It’s not like I’m grabbing a camera and smashing it on the ground. But at the same time, I know it will have that effect, so I’m accountable. But it’s not like my shirt is emitting damaging laser beams or anything, it’s entirely passive.
Also, is there anything like this scenario in real life/law?
if you invent some passive way to damage tech by just being in its vicinity. not only would it be illegal. it would be a super weapon.
A weapon to surpass metal gear?
Snake?!
Snaaaaaake!!!
A weapon to defeat metal gear
How better to surpass something than to defeat it?
Instructions unclear: Ran a marathon, got disqualified for defeating the other runners instead of running past them.
How they gonna find out? No cameras to witness it
eyes
Eyes aren’t electric…… unless your a bird
you dont neds electric eyes to witness something. i witness stuff all the time and my eyes are analogue.
But if our eyes aren’t eyes, are our eyes eye eyes?
bro’s got the level 9 EMP aura
What you describe is simply not possible with a passive material. Funnily your example of something shooting lasers is probably the only thing that could come close to actual damage
The most you can do is one of those adversarial patterns that just confuses the white balance and autofocus. There is nothing you can do to affect someone shooting in manual mode
If you could damage a camera by pointing it at something, the manufacturer would fix the issue before selling it, because no one is buying a camera that does.
If you could damage a camera by pointing it at something, the manufacturer would fix the issue before selling it, because no one is buying a camera that does.
Recently, there were news about the LIDAR of Volvo cars destroying camera sensors when they were aimed into the direction of the IR laser beam. Yet, this is not a passive item.
Even that was debated. No one proved it continued when you took another video, just that it broke the video of the lidar itself.
I am thinking if you could wear a mirror that would direct all the sunlight right at the camera. That would have to be an active tracking system, but wouldn’t emit any light itself.
It would have to be parabolic and yeah as you suggest you would either need a big robotic rig to aim it or you would have to be very very obvious with your intent to damage given there’s pretty much only one specific place a given parabolic mirror can be to damage something else.
Parabolic would only work if the camera is in the focal point, so you’d need a different part of the parabola or a different parabola depending on where you are standing relative to the camera. This is in addition to the aiming mechanism.
And even then, I’m not convinced it will damage all camera techs instead of just overexposing the image or frame for some. If they just clamp the affected pixels instead of trying to maintain the relative brightness, they might be able to still see your face clearly.
You could maybe defeat LIDAR with retro reflectors or something. Probably not, but that’s the only case it’d be possible realistically, since it’s actively shooting lasers out that you could reflect back, without actually locating the camera. Anything else, yeah it’d require actively finding the camera and attacking it, since it is only receiving light. I guess if you wore something bright enough to damage any camera looking in your direction that would also work, but I don’t think it’d be considered passive, and you’d also blind everyone else who can see you, probably permanently, and it’d require huge amounts of energy.
Might not cause damage but there is the Camera Shy Hoodie: https://www.macpierce.com/the-camera-shy-hoodie
Instructions for how to DIY provided, so it doesn’t have to be a hoodie.
Although that really only works as long as the camera doesn’t have an IR filter in place.
If the camera has an IR filter, how would IR be able to make night viewing possible?
It works in the opposite. With the IR filter you get a nice colorful image in daytime, but not the IR lights at night
there was an x-file episode, where the guy emits radiation, which pratically jams cameras, which also gives him xray vision. and also posess the ability regenerate a whole body.
happy cake day
Thanks :)
ITT: People debating whether such a shirt is possible and not answering the actual question.
Im all for this. Im all for all the side discussions that emerge from a post like this
deleted by creator
That was an episode that ended right where it started getting good. Not that the episode was bad before that, but it left me wanting more of that, not a jump to a new premise in the next episode.
The story of this episofe had enough potential for a 6 episode spinoff series. Or maybe 4. Anyway 1 was way too soon.
Is that Doctor Who?
Same actor, but it’s from the latest season of black mirror
My dude is trying to create a shirt that just continuously recharges and fires EMPs lol
I think it depends on whether it’s active or passive. Active - e.g. a laser that damages a camera sensor, then yes, your device is actively damaging someone else’s camera - deliberate property damage. Passive - e.g. reflective strips so the exposure is bad, a pattern that is hard to focus on or similar- that’s fine - camera owner is making a decision to expose their gear to the environment. Even if, say, it’s a changing pattern that deceives the autofocus into working constantly (no, I don’t know exactly how that would work, but it’s the best I can think of at short notice) so it wears out faster.
It depends a lot where your story happens. Laws are quite different.
In my country, this little detail would save you …
it’s not like my shirt is emitting damaging laser beams or anything, it’s entirely passive.
… unless you were deliberately wearing this for the purpose of doing such damage, and somebody could prove that.
I was watching a dude on TV just now whose shirt pattern was going apeshit because of the camera
Probably aliasing aka moiré effect. Harmless to the equipment.
Also, is there anything like this scenario in real life/law?
Speed bumps do something similar? Entirely passive, harmless, untill encountering certain equipment - a vehicle.
Creating something that damages nearby electronics? Yeah, that’s probably not going to fly. It really doesn’t matter if it only damages things that actively film/photograph you. Like, it’d be illegal if I walked up and hammered every camera that photographed me too.
It’d also be illegal to point a laser light into a camera to damage the sensor
Yes it would be. You’re wearing it with clear intent of damaging equipment.
“I had no idea it would do that. It was a gift/I found it at a thrift store/estate sale/in the trash.”
If you take away the intent, and with no obvious signs that your shirt is anything other than clothing, I don’t know that it would be.
There, technically, hypothetically, could be a situation where such shirt is possible. But it would require a bug in the camera firmware, which would probably work on just one camera model. For example, a shirt with a pattern that tricks the camera into detecting more faces than it was designed to, causing a buffer overflow and a crash. Reasonable, although extremely unlikely
I rolled my eyes at your optimism that such a material would exist but I took it all back by the end. Despite it being incredibly niche and unrealistic, that is by far the most clever suggestion in the thread!
Looking to get an eicar QR code shirt?
That’s incredible!
Damaging a camera is very different from something that makes taking a picture impossible. It doesn’t matter if it is passive or active, only the end result is important.
A celebrity might get away with it when just trying to get home but would probably be required to pay for damage to the camera. Anyone at a large venue is going to be ruining everyone’s cameras and that would be a huge deal.
Invent?!? Bro, just use infrared LEDs 😂
