Spy cameras - very James Bond

When Rachel and I were in Macon, Georgia a few days ago, the television news had an item about somebody secretly recording Supreme Court proceedings on a hidden camera that had been sneaked past security. I am entirely unsurprised by this as with the advent of digital, cameras have become very concealable. I commented on this article first, here: http://www.britinthe.us/2014/02/ocmulgee-national-monument.html

A long time ago, in the dim and distant past, I had occasion to need cameras capable of recording covertly. Most recorded video though some record stills also. In this article I will show some of these cameras.

This is the pen camera. It's rechargeable and unscrews to reveal a full sized USB connector. It can be used to take video or still images. On video it takes about 90 minutes before running out of power. Video is stored on internal flash memory.

This is a tricky-dickie little beastie. This will take video or stills or record audio. It doesn't have a USB socket but does have a jack socket that connects to a USB cable. It looks just like an ordinary watch and records about 90 minutes of video. This would certainly get past any security people looking for cameras.

This is a pair of sunglasses? No - not really - the central dot between the lenses conceals a video camera. This can be worn reasonably inconspicuously to record video. Eat your heart out Google, Google Glass is merely a clone of this idea. I have had these glasses for several years.

This is another camera. Again, it's tiny. This takes a micro SD card. Again it records for a couple of hours but the big difference is this camera can be hidden somewhere and is sound activated. Thus, if there's any noise, it starts recording and it records excellent quality VGA video. It's very good for use in court cases.

This is an electrical socket? No - there is a camera hidden in the center. Again, this is sound activated and records video. This can simply be attached to any wall with double-sided tape. Recording is done on a micro SD card. VGA video again.

This is a very nifty little clock. It's a digital clock that does work. The whole thing runs off AAA batteries or it can be mains powered. It'll run for a couple of days on battery power. The indentation on the slider on the left is in fact a stills camera. It's motion activated and will time stamp each frame. I have used this countless times as who looks at an inconspicuous clock as a surveillance device. I've captured unauthorised intruders on this very successfully.

The next question on your lips is going to be how much were they. The answer is they were dirt cheap. I don't think the whole lot cost more than $100. With the exception of the clock, everything came from eBay. The clock came from B&H.

I don't have any current image samples from them. The old images are all evidential and thus not suitable for public display. I have no intention of powering up any of these devices again unless I have a specific need.

So, spy cameras in the Supreme Court? I see no reason why that should not be an every day event. I've seen them concealed in buttons, bow ties, coins, brooches, pendants, rings, books, potted plants, picture frames, televisions, lamps, flashlights, binoculars. You name it - it's out there and available cheaply on eBay.