Why do the MacGyver LED sunglasses block his face?
In: Technology
Many cameras are capable of seeing beyond the spectrum of light that a human being can – including infrared (IR). In this case, MacGyver attached IR blasters to his glasses, which projected IR light outwards – a human looking at the glasses would see nothing (because our eyes can’t see infrared) but the cameras saw a blast of light as if you shined a flashlight right into the lens. This caused the cameras to just see a big bright spot rather than his face.
Now, many modern cameras have IR filters to prevent this exact situation, but it could work with the right camera.
I’m guessing you’re talking about glasses with infrared LEDs on them. Humans don’t see infrared, but cameras do just fine. Cameras usually have filters placed on them to avoid capturing infrared light. All such filters aren’t perfect though, and you can see this by pointing a remote at a webcam or phone camera and pressing a button. You’ll see the LED blink.
Security cameras usually don’t have such filters, because they may want to use infrared lighting at night. That way you can light up the area in a way the camera can see, but doesn’t bother people. Sometimes this is built into the camera itself, in the form of a [ring of LEDs around the lens](https://www.cctvcameraworld.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/0dc2d03fe217f8c83829496872af24a0/1/0/1080p-seccamera-hd9832-cw.jpg). If the LEDs are powered you can sometimes see them glow very, very faintly. But to the camera they’re very bright and lighting up the area.
Putting LEDs on your face then is just like attaching a flashlight to it. It’s bright and blinds the camera, but if you do it with IR, it won’t bother you.
I remember that episode, he used the IR led lights from a few remote controls and put them on the edges of sunglasses so face recognition cctv could not detect him and his crew on the street.
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