15 replies to this topic

[krcguns]

I have a question...do all eyes reflect I/R light? All that I have seen in the past do that I can remember. People seem to shine quite brightly and I have seen cats and dogs that look almost like headlights. I am curious if it is possible to have a living animal look directly into an I/R camera and not give off any reflection from the eyes back to the camera?

[CajunKnight]

This is something that I have never payed attention to. I assumed all eyes would reflect. I will be paying more attention from now on and if I find something that doesnt I will let you know.

[krcguns]

Thanks Cajun...the reason that I ask is this:

When we investigated the Chase on the Lake Hotel in Walker, MN, we filmed a black cat in the basement. We don't feel that it is paranormal but we are questioning that based on the eyes. This cat somes into the shot, sits down and looks directly at the camera (I am assuming it could see the I/R emitters on the camera) then after a few seconds it gets up and walks from left to right. There is a garage door that they used for deliveries that is open a few inches in the general vicinity of where the cat comes from. We are wondering why the cat's eyes never reflected the I/R light even once during that time.

[leslie_dragonlvr]

KRC, are you able to post this video of the cat? I would love to check it out for you. I feel the eyes should have glowed too. This is strange. Makes me wonder....

[krcguns]

Ok Leslie, I will put it in here since I don't believe that it is paranormal. At least I cannot offer it as paranormal evidence. The quality isn't very good but you should at least be able to see it. Kyle was having some problems with his power cord and his coaxial cable being crossed since they had to be so stretched out there. This is actually footage captured on his camera. The cat will appear in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen and if you watch it on the smaller screen the resolution is better than on a very large one. The best resolution is on the television set from the VCR of course it always looses something when put into the puter...well, here goes.

http://media.putfile.com/chase-cat-1

Edited by krcguns, 04 May 2006 - 02:02 PM.

[Justa]

I am just taking an educated guess here, but I am guessing that it has something to do with the liquid covering them, as well as body heat transfer. We know that heat travels faster through liquid than it does through air, so the thin layer of liquid required to keep the eyes moist, would transfer and give off the heat faster than through the skin. There are also many minute blood vessels very close to the surface of the eye, which would also give off the heat signature. Out of curiosity, have you also noticed that an open mouth glows brighter, as does the inner ear?

[krcguns]

I haven't seen where I/R is really affected by heat so much. Being it is light, I don't know if that would make any difference. I will have to research it further.

[Vampchick21]

I'm *definitely not* an expert on this subject, but I seem to recall that on Most Haunted, one episode the homeowner had a cat, and I'm pretty sure during the IR segments, the cat's eyes glowed. I can't remember if it was looking directly at the camera or not. I just remember that it yawned and looked rather cool.

But I would think they should glow....since cats' eyes are like little lights when you come across them at night....they have very reflective eyes

[krcguns]

yeah vampie...that has been my experience in the past with other onimals. This one was strange but since there was a way for a living cat to get in we cannot call it paranormal at all but it poses a very interesting question.

[CajunKnight]

The cat looked in the direction of the camera but never directly at the light source. Without looking directly at the light source the eyes wouldnt reflect. You can do this experiment on yourself. Just remember to not look at the camera. Just look about 2 feet below it or above while facing it. Your eyes will not reflect. The cat may have been facing the camera but looking across the floor and not at the camera.

[Justa]

I thought infared picked up heat sources? Maybe that's a thermal infrared camera I'm thinking of.

Eureka.... go here and it will support my theory

http://coolcosmos.ip...ir_zoo/cat.html

Edited by Justa, 04 May 2006 - 11:29 PM.

[krcguns]

Justa...I believe that is a thermal cam that you are thinking of and the images you posted are how things show up on a thermal cam. I believe it is an I/R thermal cam.

Cajun, you could tell where the cat was looking on that film? Your eyes are better than mine. It does look like it is looking right at the camera when it sits down. At least that's how it looks on the video itself. I am not sure though since the interference makes it difficult at best. I am going to run some experiments this weekend on my dog and the camcorder in the back yard. I will post my findings and some video clips of how his eyes show. I would think a dog should be fairly close to a cat. I am unfortunately allergic to cats and don't have one to experiment on.

[CajunKnight]

No I couldnt see the cats eyes LOL. I was making an assumption that the cat was looking forward and not directly at the light. Try the experiment with the camera at same height and you lay on floor at same height as cat and look at the different areas around camera and see what your eyes do. I believe you will find that its the angle that caused it.

[flyingorb]

2 different things folks. Even though both types of camera are called infrared they utilize differing wavelengths. a thermo infrared camera records heat (like a FLIR unit). This is a lower energy, longer wavelenth than what is called near-infrared. We perceive it as "heat". near-infrared is just below the visible light spectrum, past visible light on the red end , lower energy than visible light and a longer wavelenth, but above "heat". it is near-infrared that is commonly used in camcorders and/or night vision goggles.

The eyes are the windows of the soul, and since we all know that cats are soulless creatures of darkness, it would make sense that there would be no reflection ...... *snickers*

[Yosei]

You know, I find it ironic that some people think cats look spooky and ghostly because their eyes glow, and here we have a bunch of ghosthunters who are spooked because of one whose eyes *didn't* glow.