Photoblocker Scam

[Kelly Grannell]

You know those people selling Photoblocker to block red-light camera and toll-booth camera. Well, I bought a can of their paint and followed their direction to the T. They claimed that the more coatings you apply, the better the effect will be. So I use 8 coatings (they recommend 4 or more for best results).

The following are the results. In terms of angles, I was assisted by a buddy of mine who is an OPP officer (police officer).

Here's a direct shot

Here's a "traffic camera angle" shot

Here's a "toll booth angle" shot

As you all can see, it doesn't do anything... well, it does do one thing great, it makes my license plate looks brand new and shiny.

 

[tmt martins]

That stuff is funny the only thing that really works is the Prism covers .It let you look directly at the plate but a top or side angle it's just a blur.

Oh and it's ILLEGAL in most states here.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

yeah, the one with fresnel lens is illegal in Canada too.

 

[makinorlando]

You know those people selling Photoblocker to block red-light camera and toll-booth camera. Well, I bought a can of their paint and followed their direction to the T. They claimed that the more coatings you apply, the better the effect will be. So I use 8 coatings (they recommend 4 or more for best results).

The following are the results. In terms of angles, I was assisted by a buddy of mine who is an OPP officer (police officer).

As you all can see, it doesn't do anything... well, it does do one thing great, it makes my license plate looks brand new and shiny.

So this was an experiement, and not your attempt at running tolls booth and red lights?

I'm glad you license plate looks so pretty!

 

[tmt martins]

I just thought about that also .I bet the people making the red light cameras are selling this to enhance the image while telling you it's blocking it.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

Actually, I didn't even pay for the Photoblocker thingie. My friend, the OPP officer he brought over that spray paint (y'know, they try to make everything illegal in Canada, such as radar detectors etc) and since he's a friend of mine for 12 years, he asked me whether I'm wiling to have my license plate used for the experiment with a side note that if it works, I will have to surrender my license plate and they give me a new set.

So I thought, what do I get to lose? the edges of my license plate (can not be seen) are already start to rust from the the salt spray they use during winter time anyway (especially my front plate). Nice of him, although it doesn't work, he's going to get me a new set of plates for my car. It's nice to save $50 or so for replacement plates (or was it $100? don't know for sure).

We also sent a similar letter to the makers of Photoblocker with OPP letterhead and give them a stern warning to not sell the item to Canada, not because of its properties, but because it's a scam.

 

[WillCAD]

Photoblocker seems to be in hot water - it it worked, it would be illegal, and since it doesn't work, it's illegal because it's a scam!

Oh, well, I always thought it was a little stupid for anybody to market a product that is specifically designed to help people get away with breaking the law, even the speed limit.

Enjoy the new plates.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

Yup! I'll be able to pick up my new plates tomorrow! Yaaaay! No more dents and rust on my front plate anymore!!!!!

 

[boBQuincy]

I was thinking the best way to defeat the speed cameras might be to place a slave flash controler and a big flash unit (or two) by the license plate. When the speed camera's flash went off the onboard flash would trigger, washing out the photo.

This has nothing to do with the legality nor the morality of rendering speed cameras ineffective, it's just a scientific excercise.
That, and anyone following you would probably be about as happy as people in a dark ride at WDW when someone fires off a flash photo!


boB

 

[Kelly Grannell]

Something that the Photoblocker USA didn't know about Canadian system, we use IR flash, so it's not going to help at all. Also the photo-toll system in Canada uses constant flood light instead of flash.

Regardless, we've tried with more than 20 types of scenarios (most of which I'm not allowed to share), but in every instance, several seconds of Photoshop tweaks will make the numbers show up very clearly.

 

[DukeStreetKing]

Why don't you get some blue paint and make the number 9 into the number 8? I mean if you're going to break the law, go all the way.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

Uhmmm, as mentioned, I'm not breaking the law, I'm allowing the OPP to use my license plate as a test subject.

 

[DukeStreetKing]

Uhmmm, as mentioned, I'm not breaking the law, I'm allowing the OPP to use my license plate as a test subject.

I know, I was just kidding.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

Oh, I didn't get that LOL!

 

[Anewman]

We also sent a similar letter to the makers of Photoblocker with OPP letterhead and give them a stern warning to not sell the item to Canada, not because of its properties, but because it's a scam.

Uhmmm, as mentioned, I'm not breaking the law, I'm allowing the OPP to use my license plate as a test subject.

Not trying to be argumentative, but for the test to be 100% conclusive would you not need to actually drive through a redlight/toll camera.

Just saying that most red light cameras or toll booth cams do not take pictures with a 30D at 1/60th of a second, and the cars given violations are usually moving at a good pace.

I am not even factoring in extreme lighting conditions(natural) that those cameras operate under. The way I understand it in LA(large number of traffic cams), they lose Thosands of tickets per year because of lighting conditions(mostly glare) where the plates do not appear clearly in the images.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

I did not know that. Thanks for the info, Anewman. I don't know why my OPP buddy didn't factor those in.