A fellow writer on Digital Camera Word recently asked Who is actually buying these Ray-Ban camera glasses? Well, not me: the tech just isn't good enough yet. But in theory at least, I love the idea of camera glasses.
Why? Because on a number of occasions, I've been walking down the street and something unusual, unexpected or visually incredible has happened right in front of me. And while there wasn't enough time to grab a camera or phone, if I'd been wearing a pair of camera glasses it would have been a different story.
Camera glasses also get around the problem that if you observe something, you change it. This is an issue that street photographers have long wrestled with: if passers-by see a lens pointed at them, they'll immediately start behaving differently. Which is why, for example, legendary French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson used a handkerchief to shield his camera and capture candid moments. Camera glasses give you an instant shortcut to that kind of subterfuge.
But here lies the great problem with camera glasses that the tech industry has yet to find a suitable answer for, or even acknowledge. We're talking, of course, about the creepy factor.
When it comes down to it, no one likes the feeling that they're being watched. And that's not just learned behaviour; it's deep in our evolutionary programming. Why? Because, quite simply, for animals in the wild, being watched = being hunted.
Admittedly, we're already being watched these days by everything from dash cams to CCTV cameras. But because these are inanimate objects, they don't trigger the same instinctive suspicion and outright anger that occurs when it's an actual person watching you.
And I reckon that if camera glasses ever got popular, there'll be an intense reaction to their use, even if it was benign. For instance, just imagine how parents might react if they thought you were surreptitiously filming their kids, just because you walked past them in the street. It doesn't bear thinking about.
Don't get me wrong, I can imagine some other, more niche reasons for people to use camera glasses: filming sports first-hand, for instance, or recording maintenance and repair work for later reference. But these uses will be very specific, and so—much like the smart ring or the dumb phone—I think smart glasses will forever remain a niche product.
Conversely, if they ever do break into the mainstream and the general public starts to recognise their shape and style… that's when you'll need be very careful who you upset. And that very thought makes me realise that maybe, the potential benefits of camera glasses just aren't worth it.
Check out our guide to the best camera glasses - or if you are anti spy cameras, look at our choice of the best hidden camera detectors
