How Well Can You Tell A Real Camera From A Dummy Camera?

Carlton Purvis

09/24/13 01:54am

Jumping off the discussion about the man who had a camera pointed at his neighbor's hot tub, a lot of you work with cameras on a daily basis so I'm wondering: How well do you think you can tell a real camera from a dummy camera in the wild? The camera below is mounted outside of a club in DC in an area known to be pretty rowdy at night. The place was closed when I took the picture, but I plan to go back some other time to find out if it's real or not. To me, it looks a lot like a UniquExceptional, but considering the area, I can believe it might be real.

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Brian Rhodes

IPVMU Certified | 09/24/13 01:57am

I'll just get this out of the way now: Was there a red blinking light on it?

Carlton Purvis

In reply to Brian Rhodes | 09/24/13 02:02am

That would have been helpful in discerning, but no blinking light on this one.

John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Carlton Purvis | 09/24/13 02:04am

And that's probably, ironically, a positive sign that it is a real camera.

Can you see cabling running out and through the wall? No cabling means either a very clean install or it's a dummy. Do you have a picture of the back/other side of the camera? That would help.

Carlton Purvis

09/24/13 02:10am

I didn't see any cabling either. When I go back over there I'll get more picture of it during the day. That should help. It was raining out but I had to stop and get the picture because it looked so much like the dummy cameras.

Daniel Tyrrell

09/25/13 04:01am

Honestly looks like a real camera to me. Though I will say I have used 'Real (broken) Cameras' as dummies by simply just mounting them without wiring them.

Carlton Purvis

10/10/13 05:21pm

When today and got some daytime shots of this camera. The owner wasn't there to tell me more about it.

Here's what I know now:

  • There is red sensor, but not a blinking red light.
  • There is a single wire coming out the back of the camera
  • The camera says "Nuvico Day/Night" on the side.

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Brian Karas

In reply to Carlton Purvis | 10/10/13 05:26pm

It is (or was) a legit camera. The red sensor is a CDS cell for turning on the IR LEDs in low light.

John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Carlton Purvis | 10/10/13 05:35pm

Nuvico? That's a real camera, just not a very good one :)

Enrique Delgado

11/12/13 03:46pm

I think the main way to tell if it's a dummy or not is by the cabling.

John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Enrique Delgado | 11/12/13 05:35pm

Enrique, see our Dummy Camera Shootout, which shows that dummy camera manufacturers have gotten more sophisticated with realistic 'dummy cabling'.

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