Structured Light Sensing (SLS) Camera
"This system is all the rage on TV like Ghost Adventures and also in several groups out there. It must be the piece of equipment to have in one's arsenal!"
Don't believe the hype!
Date: 7th February 2019
“I just caught an anomaly on the SLS system... it mapped in a skeleton... it must be a ghost as there was nothing there!”
The Kinect system was designed to be a static sensor system - and you the person was the only thing to move about... not to be carried around.
...and even then if used static it has not proved to capture ghosts and spirits!
Paranormal Activity 4
The series of 'Paranormal Activity' films has led many of us into the realms of the paranormal world. The fourth instalment was released in 2012 and one of the plot devices was the use of the Kinect system and that it caught ghosts.
Of course this was just a supposition on the fact that the Kinect system uses infrared laser beams to detect movement and motion from humans to allow us to interact with the software-based games that utilises the sensor bar.
Remember that all these paranormal films are someones idea of a story turned into a script and acted out to offer an entertaining 90 minutes or so.
Ghost Adventures... Jumping on the bandwagon...
Now it's at this point that we have to address that Ghost Adventures (Zak, Aaron and Nick, et al) with the help of their time-served friend and creator, Bill Chappell, were the first to openly use a Kinect System on TV. The most notable episode is Season 9 - Episode 8 - St. James Hotel.
Bill had set up the Kinect System (before it became mobile) and captured what they deemed was their best evidence yet. Yes the system was static, but one can surmise that the captured skeleton figure was more than likely a glitch in the software.
After that Bill designed the mobile SLS Kinect Camera system... what he dubbed the XCam... and just so happens to be on average $1200 (£911) retail via the Digital Dowsing website.
At this juncture, we have an SLS Kinect Camera and made it at a cost of £300. Now the software is perhaps not as good as the XCam, but it still works... although it does pick up spurious objects as a skeleton figure - but we do not go by that... and we also know what is real and what is a glitch in the system when these skeletal figures appear.
We use it more for another nightvision camera and include the Depth Sensing Camera as an add-on.
Social Media
In modern times we all know about social media like Facebook and You Tube, etc. This has given the masses a platform to show their movies and pictures regards to the paranormal, usually from those who class themselves as 'Ghost Hunters'.
Unfortunately this is causing a stigma within the paranormal world and to the more serious Paranormal Investigators poses a bit of a problem in-as-much as we have to try and debunk the claims of what the SLS Kinect system is really picking up.
Yes as we have established many times previous there is nothing designed or manufactured that can detect ghosts and spirits. This includes the SLS Kinect. The SLS is just merely another idea on a potential medium of capturing evidence of ghosts...
The Kinect Software
Once Microsoft caught on to the idea behind the plot in Paranormal Activity 4, they even allowed a video from a Paranormal Investigation group to be on their website for the very purpose of advertising this.
That said, one has to take on board that the Kinect and software are way beyond the horizon and far, far away from infallible. It has its errors and issues like not mapping in/detecting persons that enter the frame and even sometimes mapping in everyday objects as figures.
So when the equipment is not 100% accurate then how can all and sundry in the ghost hunting field claim it does capture ghosts? Factual answer is they can't!
The complex algorithms of the Kinect system are such and so sophisticated enough that they will pick up people's shadows as a figure... and also unsophisticated enough not to pick up on people's gestures (arm and hand movements, etc.). So it is with this that all should be aware that the Kinect has major issues.
... and the major problem is human error or just plain ignorance to the fact that some people do not understand how their equipment works.
It is also claimed that the IR sensors of the Kinect can detect 'spirit energy'. How can this be when we have absolutely no idea what spirit energy is? Now as 'spirit energy' is energy, then it can't possibly absorb, transmit and reflect Infrared light... only matter can do these things.
So if one were to believe ghosts and spirits are made up of energy as most so-called paranormal 'experts' do, then they can't be picked up by the Kinect system or even nightvision equipment.
So until the day comes when somebody somewhere has actually captured a ghost and run all possible tests within a controlled laboratory environment - knowing what energies it emits and what equipment can detect them... then it must be deemed that the Kinect can't possibly detect ghosts... period!
Conclusion?
The SLS Kinect System...
was designed to pick up actual people;
is far from perfect;
was meant to be static in use, not mobile;
does not always map and track people even when in direct sight of the laser grid;
can pick up any 'figure-like' shape or object and map in a 'figure' when there actually isn't any;
when used by those who would rather throw the manual away and start pressing buttons will not work as designed and will give the wrong impression of 'ghosts' being captured;
even before it was adapted for the paranormal had thousands of on-line complaints to Microsoft regarding it not working correctly;
on at least 90% of You Tube videos posted are in fact hoaxes by believers in a hope to "prove the existence of ghosts";
is computer technology - and you will always have 'anomalies' in any computer-based tech;
is really just gaining momentum and being incorrectly used due to film and TV programmes and the pressures of social media.
If you have one, you might also want to try out a little experiment with your SLS Kinect:
Go to a cemetery and point it at some cross-shaped headstones... you will capture skeleton figures almost every time! You could even point it at a tree trunk... same thing will happen quite a lot.
So do not believe everything you see and hear on TV or on social media with regards to the SLS Kinect Sensor Camera. And if you do have one of these systems or just want one for use on your ghost hunts, etc., then just treat it as a piece of fun equipment and enjoy whatever fulfilment it allows you...
But do not post videos or screen shots on any evidence you might think you have captured in a hope to fool anyone that you have captured a ghost. The paranormal field has enough stigma to contend with.
Use it with common sense in mind... be a Paranormal Investigator, not a Ghost Hunter!