Flir

[David C]

I bought myself a brand new Flir E4 wifi thermal imaging camera last week and been using it almost daily (personal use, self-employed gigs and on the job). Looking to do the E8+ hack upgrade to unlock the full thermal resolution and some of the advanced features. Great timing since everyone is trying to patch up their building insulation and wondering if they need more heat and where before winter.

Very valuable tool in my trades.

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[NYC-SE]

That cat's on fire!

[David C]

That cat's on fire!



Hot pussy face

[Whiplash]

That's expensive. But worth it for a business.

[bronsin]

Very cool! How much do they cost it would be nice to image my house. Are there settings on digital cameras that will take pictures and infrared?

[justanotherdrunk]

as a calibration technician i certify them regularly

yep a great tool!

[David C]

Might seem expensive when you are looking at >$1000 CAD plus tax for the entry level professional thermal imager that the E4 is, but anything quality electronic with a screen, battery, wifi and picture capability ability is around that price tag and more, aka DSLR, laptops, tablets, phones, tv's, etc. and considering it's a tool that will serve you for over a decade and more, it's not such a bad move, even for non-business use.

There's a digital camera just above the thermal lens that capture visible light and overlay the outlines on the thermal image (Flir's MSX multi-spectral technology). You can set the camera to record both thermal and digital images when you take the picture. You can also switch between different display (MSX/thermal only/thermal blend/thermal picture in digital picture/digital only, etc) and later you can actually change everything back and forth in the Flir Tools software or app, just like if you were still on scene and switching settings on the camera since the jpg of the thermal file has thermographic information saved in each of the pixel.

For occasional house usage where you simply want to see differences in temperature, there's also IR thermometer with a thermal camera that will show you infrared light but you won't be able to read the temperature off the thermal camera, it will only give you a spot temperature using the IR spot sensor (basically am hybrid of a thermal imager with a LCD display IR gun) and these are a lot more affordable around $400 cad. However you'll probably end up wanting more and wish you'd had up your game to a Exx series handheld thermal imager because you won't be able to investigate and analyze your findings properly without a true thermal imager sensor that doesn't just shows infrared light, but can process it into useable and comprehensive data. Also there's a lot of IR light being reflected on every surfaces which can easily fool you, thus making the hybrid or cheap thermal imager a joke when you really want to get the job done.

I had mine for a (unfortunately can't disclose) very good price, otherwise I wouldn't have bought it if I had to pay full retail (~$1500 with taxes).

[David C]

as a calibration technician i certify them regularly

yep a great tool!



Cool ! Mine came with a little card that said it was calibrated on sept. 27th 2017 using NIST stuff, with weird green pictures of what is apparently radiation sources being used to calibrate. Does that little card means my camera is approved for producing thermal data that can be used in legal or insurance related/certification jobs ? Or does it simply means it was calibrated using something more than just a cat's face but isn't recognized by official/governmental instances and I'd need to send it to a lab ?

[justanotherdrunk]

Does that little card means my camera is approved for producing thermal data that can be used in legal or insurance related/certification jobs ? Or does it simply means it was calibrated using something more than just a cat's face but isn't recognized by official/governmental instances and I'd need to send it to a lab ?

no idea

we have a infrared thermal calibrator certified for our use by nist

yes send it to a cal lab

[David C]

no idea



we have a infrared thermal calibrator certified for our use by nist



yes send it to a cal lab



Look for a parcel on your desk next week, att. Drunk guy from the car forum ;)

[David C]

Before you do the calibration, do you run tests to see how much the camera drifted from calibrated measurements ? Aka can you quantify how much error if any was corrected thanks to the calibration afterward ?

[eTiMaGo]

Strap it on your head and pretend to be a high-tech commando? That's the first thing I would do!

[David C]

You do realize this camera is a little bigger than night vision goggles, right ?

[ezhacker1]

I have the Flir One (micro usb type), fun little functional toy.

[David C]

Today I got around to "upgrade" my E4 to a E8+ and unlocked the full 320x240 pixels IR resolution as well as several color palettes and functions.

I took some pretty interesting pictures of purely thermal electromagnetic wavelengths in total darkness, obtaining high contrast images of iron pipes from a boiler furnace and distribution manifold of water main, and then outside in the forest at -20° C at midnight of trees and other landscapes. Remember, those images are not of visible light, despite being very close to an actual B&W daytime picture or night vision goggles, they are purely infrared thermal signatures invisible to the naked eye.

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