Our preconceived ideas of private investigators and hidden camera technology will have probably been formed by what we have all seen on television in the past. Our view will be changed by the latest devices that really are a modern-age revelation

Hidden Cameras - Mobile Surveillance Keeps You In The Picture

Ten years ago when I started as Private Detective I entered into a world that most of the general public are almost blissfully unaware. I mean a ‘Private Eye’; don’t they just have people like that in the US? I guess that the public can be forgiven for taking that view because in reality our perception of the world is affected heavily by what is shown on TV and the only shows on TV that have featured a working PI have been US dramas from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.

On entering this secret world I had a proper introduction to the world of the hidden camera. Hidden cameras are not the type of thing that you get at the average electrical shop on the high street and as such, they have always been generally regarded as a specialist product. Ten years ago the only portable or body-worn cameras available were bag cameras, tie cameras and button cameras. These items were priced incredibly high. I remember somebody paying over a grand for a bag camera and that didn’t even include the recording device.

You will remember blurry and pixelated video footage obtained by an undercover news reporter of yesteryear. Despite the poor quality of the footage, people still marveled at was was achieved by such a small hidden camera. For the most part, times have changed. Camera technology has moved on in leaps and bounds. The latest covert cameras are smaller and more powerful than ever before. Some new offerings even feature covert cameras that will achieve High Definition footage and cameras can be built into almost anything from a working MP3 player to a working pen that is not much bigger than a standard pen. Don’t get me wrong. There is some cheap rubbish out there and buyers have to be aware of substandard devices. However, if you want a decent hidden camera set-up, you don’t have to pay a ‘kings ransom’. Don’t make the same mistake as one TV company did by paying nearly one hundred GBP per day for a covert camera jacket that they hired for a month! Now as hidden cameras go, that’s just plain silly.