The OnePlus 8 Pro comes with an additional fun “color filter camera” that processes infrared light in addition to visible wavelengths. With the help of some post-processing, it creates stunning and weird false-color images. However, this not all. IR light is essentially electromagnetic radiation capable of penetrating certain materials that other light waves cannot, so the camera can be used for a party trick: it allows you to see through some thin plastic and some other materials.

How Mishaal Rahman from XDA developers Tweeted, the transparent effect is mostly visible with thin plastics, as in the YouTube video embedded above. It shows how you can see through a remote control. A Redditor also displayed some other images from another remote exposure text and the batteries hidden within it. Other Reddit users report that it is possible to see through some fluids such as red wine and coca cola. IR light sources, like the LED on a remote control, also light up when viewed through the color-filtered camera. However, the effect doesn’t work for other plastics like keyboard and camera parts in our sample below.

Left: Regular image Means, medium: Camera image with color filter. Right: Back cover removed.

These amazing images are the result of the camera’s ability to capture infrared light. In fact, all the cameras out there would normally retain infrared wavelengths in photographs, but they come with built-in IR filters that make the results as close to our vision as possible. OnePlus’ custom rendering on infrared and visible light is probably the reason why its results don’t look like monochrome images taken on certain film sets or special night vision cameras. There are also post-processed thermal photos that use visible colors to represent temperatures, which could be another possible app for the OnePlus camera if the company implemented that.

Not all materials become transparent due to the lack of the IR filter.

However, OnePlus technology is not something special and unprecedented in the consumer technology space. The Pixel 4 and the latest iPhones use IR blasters and cameras for biometric authentication, even if you can’t take photos with them. Virtual reality equipment like Oculus Rift works with the same technology. There are even some older Sony camcorders that used to include an infrared night vision mode.

It’s great that OnePlus allows us to use technology as a party trick, though that’s really it: I’d rather have an additional regular lens or a lower price than a camera that only works for extremely rare and specific purposes.