History Main / InfraredXRayCamera

* Not a camera, but the monsters of ''[[{{Tremors}} Tremors 2: Aftershocks]]'' see in infrared. And subvert the usual X-Ray properties assumed to go with it; at one point the heroes hide themselves by holding doors in front of their bodies while moving, making themselves nigh-invisible to the beasties. A character also hides in the bucket of a backhoe which, as the monsters are short, they can't look over the sides to see into while milling around.

[[folder:Film]]

* ''Film/{{Aliens}}'': Averted, with the Aliens not showing up on infrared at all. It's also done as a bit of a gag at this trope's expense, as the Marines realize this while the Aliens are right in front of their faces, and completely invisible. This is carried over to the ''Franchise/AlienVsPredator'' franchise with the Predators being forced to switch between different modes to even spot the Aliens.

* ''Navy Seals'' (1990). The SEAL Team sniper uses a .50 caliber rifle with a thermal scope with these miraculous capabilities. His call sign is (appropriately) "God".
* Occurs in ''LiloAndStitch'', when Dr. Jumba Jookiba tracks Stitch inside a dog pound via a pair of infrared binoculars. Possibly justified due to [[AppliedPhlebotinum alien technology.]]

Note, however, that there theoretically exist wavelengths on which the electromagnetic radiation behaves similarly to this trope. That's high-frequency microwaves (down from centimeter range), and imaging radars that use them. They are, however, very complex and expensive and are used only in some very specialized fields. Just one example would be the terahertz radiation (T-rays), which sits uncomfortably on the border between infrared and microwaves. It's hard to produce and hard to detect, but most non-conductive objects (walls, clothing, etc) are transparent to it while most conductive objects (metal, the water in your body) reflect it. Terahertz sensors (which, as noted above, have more in common with radars, rather than with the cameras), are [[strike: mostly a scientific curiosity right now]] already being used for airport security in a number of countries, and known as "[[PowerPerversionPotential nude scanners]]".

* Generally subverted in ''Film/{{Predator}}'' when Dutch realized the creature sees in infrared when it couldn't spot him covered in (cooler) mud which temporarily disguised his body heat. When the film shows scenes from the Predator's point of view, the body heat of the humans is blocked by cooler objects in the foreground such as vegetation, just like it really would be. However, in real life, the mud would warm up due to the body heat pretty quickly, as demonstrated by the ''Series/MythBusters''.
** In [[Film/{{Predator 2}} the second film]], the Predator sees through walls, sadly.
** Interestingly, while the Predator Vision shots are clearly false-colored normal shots, the production did get hold of an infrared camera, initially hoping to shoot with that. Unfortunately, what came out was barely intelligible: turns out IR cameras don't work so good in steaming tropical heat.
** Made even more bizarre by the fact that in both of the original movies the Predators are implied to thrive in hot, humid environments - one only appeared in Los Angeles when a massive heatwave struck the Western Coast.
** Averted in ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', where the titular creatures don't show up on infrared at all, also done as a bit of a gag at this trope's expense, as the Marines realize this while the Aliens are right in front of their faces, and completely invisible. True to this, the ''Alien Vs. Predator'' games force the Predator to switch between ''four'' vision modes (one of them being normal human sight, probably for gameplay purposes) to highlight enemies; the IR scan won't highlight Aliens. Later adopted in the ''Film/AlienVsPredator'' movie, where the Predator is distinctly shown switching vision modes to track Aliens instead of humans.
*** The Predator switches through different modes of vision in ''Film/{{Predator 2}}'' as well, amusing after they were convinced it could ''only'' see in the infrared spectrum.
*** The new ''AlienVsPredator'' game also has three vision modes (normal visible light, infrared, green vision thingy) in order to see humans and aliens when they try to hide, but neither can be seen when they are behind walls.
*** In ''Film/{{Predators}}'', it's stated that the Predators are learning to adapt; when [[spoiler: Adrian Brody tries to use the same tricks as Dutch, the lead Predator switches vision modes to a heartbeat sensor]].

* There are some materials that's transparent to infrared, but opaque to visible. So it's sort of real.

* Thermal imaging cameras make use of long-wave infrared to detect the temperature of objects. In fact, FLIR (the world's largest thermal camera maker) calls thermal imaging "the world's sixth sense." However, they are very expensive due to high demand and low volumes.

** On the other hand, another episode showed a thermal infrared camera was able to see through a dust cloud that obscured visible light. It wasn't until the team used a set of CO[subscript:2] extinguishers to obscure body heat that they were able to fool it.

** On the other hand, another episode showed a thermal infrared camera was able to see through a dust cloud that obscured visible light.

* ''CSIMiami'' where it was used to look into a boat.

** Possibly for the same reason actual military forces keep night vision goggles on them, even on day missions. On the other hand, one soldier in ''BlackHawkDown'' decided to forgo night vision in favor of grabbing extra ammo, along with many others. They paid dearly for this when they ended up stuck on the battlefield all the way into the night, without one of their greatest tactical advantages. Obviously, while this explains ''why'' the above soldier had infrared, but not why it worked. It really depends on ambient temperature.

* The Steyr AUG in ''SyphonFilter: The Omega Strain'' has a false-color infrared scope with this effect.

[[folder:RealLife]]
* An actual "X-ray camera" does in fact exist. Although it uses terahertz microwaves rather than infrared or X-ray to function, and has more in common with radar than anything else, it can still see through walls and clothing, but not metal.
* The KGB developed an X-Ray that could show the lock of a safe while it was being cracked; its drawback was the high levels of radiation produced. It was joked in the KGB that you could tell a veteran safecracker by their lack of teeth.
* Astronomers have of course used cameras of various wavelengths for some time. Generally more useful for looking at stellar objects rather than through walls, mind you.
** Also an example of some of the problems with infrared: astronomy at infrared frequencies languished for decades until satellites could carry telescopes and new observatories were built on high mountaintops because the infrared light could not penetrate far through ''air''.
** That's why there're X-ray telescopes mounted in satellites orbiting the Earth (like [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandra_X-ray_Observatory Chandra]]); X-rays coming from celestial bodies cannot penetrate Earth's atmosphere.
* There are some materials that's transparent to infrared, but opaque to visible. So it's sort of real.
[[/folder]]

** On the other hand, another episode showed an infrared camera was able to see through a dust cloud that obscured visible light.

* An episode of ''Series/{{Mythbusters}}'' showed the inability of infrared to look through glass when an infrared sensor was spoofed by placing a small pane of glass in front of it, allowing access to a monitored hallway.

* A ''real'' Infrared Xray Camera appears in ''Film/LicenceToKill'', which Pam Bouvier nearly shoots JamesBond and Q with. It prints out an infrared xray picture of their two skeletons dodging for cover.

** However, in one mission in ''ChaosTheory'' you can see through thin paper walls (thin as in "reach through and grab somebody" thin). The thermal signature is really faint, so it may very well be plausible.

* On an episode of ''Series/BurnNotice'' where Team Westen deals with a {{mafiya}} human-trafficking ring, Fiona uses one of these to scope out the interior of a Russian restaurant. Sam asks where she got it; apparently her neighbor is a peeping Tom.

* Used in 'Film/RoboCop1987'' to surreptitiously pinpoint the location of a hostage-taker; after that it's just a matter of [[BarrierBustingBlow reaching through the wall]] and grabbing.

* Generally subverted in ''Film/{{Predator}}'' when Dutch realized the creature sees in infrared when it couldn't spot him covered in (cooler) mud which temporarily disguised his body heat. When the film shows scenes from the Predator's point of view, the body heat of the humans is blocked by cooler objects in the foreground such as vegetation, just like it really would be. However, in real life, the mud would warm up due to the body heat pretty quickly, as demonstrated by the ''MythBusters''.

* ''NUMB3RS'' used a variant when body-heat signatures pinpointed survivors trapped in the wreckage of a train crash. Arguably might've been justified, in that Charlie sent small camera-armed robots into the wreck to observe the trapped victims directly, rather than through intervening walls. Unfortunately, the signatures of two unlucky victims vanished within seconds of their demise, whereas a real body's heat would take many minutes to disperse.

* On an episode of ''BurnNotice'' where Team Westen deals with a {{mafiya}} human-trafficking ring, Fiona uses one of these to scope out the interior of a Russian restaurant. Sam asks where she got it; apparently her neighbor is a peeping Tom.

* Episode "Fallen Angel" from ''Series/{{The X-Files}}'' featured [[VisibleInvisibility invisible aliens]] and one of them was seen through a heat-source sensing device through walls.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Thundercats}}'' villain Red Eye uses one of these.

*** The Predator switches through different modes of vision in ''{{Predator 2}}'' as well, amusing after they were convinced it could ''only'' see in the infrared spectrum.

* Used by ''Film/RoboCop'' to surreptitiously pinpoint the location of a hostage-taker; after that it's just a matter of reaching through the wall and grabbing.

** In [[{{Predator 2}} the second film]], the Predator sees through walls, sadly.

* ''[[VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon FEAR 2'''s elite power armor has a fairly realistic false color thermal imaging mode; it doesn't exclusively show people, as fire and other power armor (which are incredibly heat inefficient) also shows up.

* {{FEAR}} 2's elite power armor has a fairly realistic false color thermal imaging mode; it doesn't exclusively show people, as fire and other power armor (which are incredibly heat inefficient) also shows up.

* Most of the ''RainbowSix'' games, however, avoid this. Infrared goggles and thermal scopes don't see through anything solid, and the vision gets less distinct as distance increases. Enemies further away will be only slightly brighter colors than the background haze, and if sufficiently far will blend in entirely. They are mostly useful for seeing enemies in smoke-filled areas.

* Smart vision in ''DeusExHumanRevolution'', in keeping with the ShownTheirWork theme for the workings of augmentations, explicitly uses the previously mentioned T-rays which can feasibly behave this way. From the in-game description: "...provides the implanted prosthesis with the ability to match visual silhouettes and body kinetics to micro-thermograph and t-wave lens modules, thus providing a limited degree of “x-ray vision” through walls and light cover."

* Nanovision in ''{{Crysis}} 2'' is a combination of night and infrared visions that can see through dust and smoke ([[DownplayedTrope not perfectly, but still better than the naked eye]]).