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This sounds like complete nonsense: "Lasers sweep the surroundings and when they detect a CCD, they fire a bolt of light right at the camera to obliterate any

This sounds like complete nonsense: "Lasers sweep the surroundings and when they detect a CCD, they fire a bolt of light right at the camera to obliterate any photograph"

DarrenMills 17y ago
Is a CCD, at several hundred feet, something you can detect? Using what technology?
- yangyang 17y ago
  Exactly. And what of cameras that use CMOS sensors (like most DSLRs)? Or old-school film-shooting paps?
- pbz 17y ago
  Sharks with lasers of course...
- anigbrowl 17y ago
  Not the CCD. Handheld detectors (like this one http://www.lightinthebox.com/Super-Sleuth-Camera-Detector_p50144.html http://www.lightinthebox.com/Super-Sleuth-Camera-Detector_p5...) work by strobing an array of very bright LEDs and looking for reflections from lenses. I've seen manufacturers claim it's good out to 900 feet and I see no reason it wouldn't work in principle, but a shrewd paparazzi could probably just set up a few ordinary mirrors around his observation point and confuse the system that way. Sounds like a repurposed military anti-sniper device or similar. Then again maybe the whole thing is just exaggeration designed to give paparazzi nightmares about having their retinas burned.
mseebach 17y ago
Especially since the CCD is only exposed for a fraction of a second while the shutter is open and the image is captured. It'll have to be scanning at a crazy fast rate (35 mm square at 200 meters, 30+ times a second?) .. and good luck getting the light cannon pointed in the right direction and fired before the shutter closes. What I reasoned when I read this, was that the system would detect whatever it is the auto-focus emits, and point a laser/sharp light in that specific direction, obscuring any further pictures, and at least forcing the photographer to move. Of course, it's ridiculous easy to hit with a denial of service attack, and even easier to circumvent -- just don't use auto-focus, which isn't needed at distance anyway.
- notaddicted 17y ago
  The laser is the light cannon.
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
- yangyang 17y ago
  Auto-focus on most cameras (those that use phase / contrast detecton AF, at least) doesn't emit anything, unless you mean emissions from the circuitry used to control it. Some cameras have a AF assist light for helping the AF in low light, but that won't come on in daylight. You do need to focus at distance with long, fast lenses.
  - jrg 17y ago
    At a distance you'd stop-down the lens aperture, stick it in manual focus, and set it to somewhere around infinity. (and big, fancy yachts are always moored somewhere sunny, off the coast. So no problem there.)
    - yangyang 17y ago
      Depends how long a lens you're using. You'd need a pretty fast shutter speed at 600mm+.

This sounds like complete nonsense: "Lasers sweep the surroundings and when they detect a CCD, they fire a bolt of light right at the camera to obliterate any photograph"

DarrenMills 17y ago

Is a CCD, at several hundred feet, something you can detect? Using what technology?

yangyang 17y ago
Exactly. And what of cameras that use CMOS sensors (like most DSLRs)? Or old-school film-shooting paps?
pbz 17y ago
Sharks with lasers of course...
anigbrowl 17y ago
Not the CCD. Handheld detectors (like this one http://www.lightinthebox.com/Super-Sleuth-Camera-Detector_p50144.html http://www.lightinthebox.com/Super-Sleuth-Camera-Detector_p5...) work by strobing an array of very bright LEDs and looking for reflections from lenses. I've seen manufacturers claim it's good out to 900 feet and I see no reason it wouldn't work in principle, but a shrewd paparazzi could probably just set up a few ordinary mirrors around his observation point and confuse the system that way. Sounds like a repurposed military anti-sniper device or similar. Then again maybe the whole thing is just exaggeration designed to give paparazzi nightmares about having their retinas burned.

mseebach 17y ago

Especially since the CCD is only exposed for a fraction of a second while the shutter is open and the image is captured. It'll have to be scanning at a crazy fast rate (35 mm square at 200 meters, 30+ times a second?) .. and good luck getting the light cannon pointed in the right direction and fired before the shutter closes. What I reasoned when I read this, was that the system would detect whatever it is the auto-focus emits, and point a laser/sharp light in that specific direction, obscuring any further pictures, and at least forcing the photographer to move. Of course, it's ridiculous easy to hit with a denial of service attack, and even easier to circumvent -- just don't use auto-focus, which isn't needed at distance anyway.

notaddicted 17y ago
The laser is the light cannon.
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
yangyang 17y ago
Auto-focus on most cameras (those that use phase / contrast detecton AF, at least) doesn't emit anything, unless you mean emissions from the circuitry used to control it. Some cameras have a AF assist light for helping the AF in low light, but that won't come on in daylight. You do need to focus at distance with long, fast lenses.
- jrg 17y ago
  At a distance you'd stop-down the lens aperture, stick it in manual focus, and set it to somewhere around infinity. (and big, fancy yachts are always moored somewhere sunny, off the coast. So no problem there.)
  - yangyang 17y ago
    Depends how long a lens you're using. You'd need a pretty fast shutter speed at 600mm+.