DIY OnePlue 8 see through camera.

[unbuildpain]

OnePlue 8 (a smartphone from a Chinese company) has a 5 MP camera which allows people to see through some objects including opaque plastics, something like this could be useful in hunting bugs hidden in devices and objects. The reason it works in this phone is, the lens of the 5 MP camera doesn't have IR and color filters.

Can something like this be done with any other camera, like a web camera, normal camera, surveillance camera. How would I remove the IR filter and color filters on these cameras to achieve something like that?

 

[betwixt]

The filter is usually a thin plastic/glass square glued over the pick-up or behind the lens. They are quite easy to remove if you can get access to them but it would be difficult to fit one back again. Note that removing the filter will wreck the color rendition and also make any automatic gain adjustment dependent on light sources you may no be able to see so expect strange brightness settings at times.

A dedicated IR camera will usually work better. I have not seen any cameras other than special astronomical ones that have filters for anything except IR.

Brian.