How to Spy on your Neighbors on a Budget: Rear Window Edition

Imagine breaking your leg and being trapped in a wheelchair, confined to your apartment without the comforts of modern amenities. No internet or social media to occupy your mind and distract you from your unfortunate circumstance. This would naturally lead any curious human to rummage through their existing espionage supplies or purchase some. Taking after the character L.B. Jefferies in Alfred Hitchcock’s, Rear Window (1954).

All jokes aside, the film is considered a masterpiece, ranking 38^th on the BFI Sight and Sound’s list of The Greatest Films of All Time. Hitchcock masterfully explores themes of privacy, perception, and voyeurism, making the audience a character as we help spy on Jefferies’ neighbors. Using a camera, some lenses, a pair of binoculars, and joined by his fiancée, Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly), the famous photographer witnesses’ pieces of a murder, causing him to solve the mystery from his apartment.

With the film celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, we came up with a spy kit so you can keep tabs on your neighbors with a $100 espionage budget inspired by the movie. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy the absurdity of how to spy on your neighbor on a budget: Rear Window edition.

Rear Window Spy Kit

How did L.B. Jefferies successfully spy on his neighbors without drawing suspicion? First, his character was a renowned photojournalist and as such had a state-of-the-art camera and killer incognito skills. While we cannot replicate his photographic instincts, we can grab a camera close to the one he uses. The one used in the film was the Exakta Varex VX 35mm SLR made by the Ihagee company. Retailing on the secondary market for close to four hundred dollars, not including the Kilfitt and telephoto lenses, it was simply out of our budget.

However, if you’re a spy on a budget, we recommend the Exakta Varex IIB 35mm camera, which doesn’t include the waist-level viewfinder but has the same fast shutters (geometric progression from 1/30 to 1/1000) as the VX 35mm SLR. This will give us impeccable photo clarity, without any lenses needed, for those handy scene-of-the-crime photos. Total: $50.

Need range to see what’s happening from far away? We recommend adding a Kilfitt and telephoto lenses to your surveillance kit. The 300mm F/5.6 Tele-Kilar Telephoto Lens Exakta Mount used in Rear Window allowed for those extreme close-up photos with a more versatile range.

With the prices of most Kilfits ranging from $60 to upwards of $1,300 for the same result, we had to skip out on these tools. Instead, we pivoted to something more budget friendly, effective, and modern. L.B. Jefferies has two supporting characters who take care of him. One is his caretaker Stella (Thelma Ritter) and the other is his fiancée, Lisa Fremont. Knowing this we asked one of our kind and caring friends to install a few 32gb Small Sq8 Secret Micro Mini Cameras around the property for multi-angel coverage. These will allow us to cut to close ups of our neighbors, achieving the same results as those fancy Kilfits and telephoto lenses. Total: $9.09

Finally, the pièce de résistance of any good spy is the binoculars. Jefferies opted to use a pair of Bausch and Lamb 7×50 binoculars, which are porro prism and allow for rivaled close ups to the lenses in the film. With 7x magnification, and a 400mm lens, you are more than capable of spying on your neighbors. The newer version of his binoculars is very affordable. Total: $14.99

With a little over $25 left in our budget, and like any good spy would do, we ordered some food from Door Dash. After all, espionage is hard on an empty stomach… just make sure to tip your driver, we can’t have them spilling the beans. Total: $25.92

Grand Total: $100

There you have it! Now you can spy on your neighbors on a budget! We think we’ve made an espionage kit that Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly would be proud of.