Despite leaps and bounds in smartphone innovation, especially when it comes to smartphone cameras, one area that has yet to see much improvement is low light performance of all those snazzy cameras. If you’ve ever tried taking pictures–or worse, videos–in the dark, you’re probably familiar with blurry, indiscernible results, washed out images from bad lighting, or people looking like Geishas thanks to overzealous flashes. The access to clarity in such conditions has been almost non-existent. But that’s because you haven’t invested in night vision technology for your smartphone. Yet…
Snooperscope is a night vision lens specifically designed to connect to smartphones. By using infrared light and the user’s smartphone screen, consumers are able to see clear (albeit green) images through their smartphone cameras in low light conditions and total darkness. Additionally, when used with visible light, the scope uncovers things not normally seen by the human eye.
Snooperscope connects to the user smartphone using peer to peer Wi-Fi technology which means that there are no adapters or bulk needed to facilitate use. It also features a built-in battery that supports up to four hours of active use. Since the camera connects to devices through direct Wi-Fi connection, users can monitor and control the camera with their iPhone, iPad, Android device, or laptop, without any internet connection or router. A cloud mode is available that enables users to use any internet connection to securely access their video feed.
Also, there is a built in microphone and speaker that enables sound and motion detection (along with notification to the smartphone when anything arises), as well as real-time commentary alongside the image capture.
The companion mobile app for iOS and Android devices enables users to take snapshots, record video, rotate images, view image details, access the image gallery, and change settings as required.
According to their Kickstarter campaign page, through which the company originally raised £79,686, Snooperscope was originally developed for military, particularly for use by infantrymen needing to aim their rifles with precision in low lighting. Outside of just night-seeing, much less lethal applications of the technology are certainly in play; detecting forgeries and examining the biological markups of plants, for instance.
The camera within Snooperscope uses a 1.0 Megapixel ¼” CMOS, fixed focus, high sensitivity lens, while the built-in speaker and microphone uses ADPCM Compression, and is equipped with Automatic Gain Control.
The device uses H.264 video compression and supports 720p (1280×720, 25 fps) – VGA (640×480, 30 fps) – QVGA (320×240, 30 fps) output. According to the system specs, the average recording time supported is approximately six hours (using a 32GB MicroSD card at 720p/25fps). In terms of size, the device is length 4.1″ x diameter 1.6″ and weighs 2.65oz.
Snooperscope is available for purchase via the official company website for $139.00. It comes in four colors: camouflage, hunter, black, and white. Again, we don’t know what you’ll be using this for, but chances are white is a bad choice.
