Future of IR Thermal Imaging - (buy now or wait)

[hgg]

Hi everyone,

I always wanted to buy an IR thermal imaging camera but the high cost was always prohibiting. 
Its a great tool with countless applications.

I have decided to go with the FLIR E4 camera which looks like a very nice price/features combo.
The cost is still relatively high at 1200e in Europe.

There is also the new iPhone Flir accessory which doesn't look bad, but I am not a real friend
of the 'fallen humanity' paradigm ... Apple.   Besides that, it has only a 2 hour battery life max.

Finally the economical solution from Fluke VT02 is a joke in my opinion with very low resolution
which can only be useful at very short distances from the objects being photographed.
That's why I have decided to go with the FLIR E4.

My question though is, shall I go with the E4 or should I wait more?  It looks like that the prices
of thermal imaging devices are starting to fall.  Does anybody have any info for any new cameras
similar or better than the E4 which will sell at lower prices in the near future?

Thank you.
George.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Even the un-hacked E4 was probably about the best value at the time, the hacked one  is streets ahead of anything.
If you're on a budget, you may find an old i3 a bit cheaper (dealers will be keen to clear old stock), which can be hacked to 160x120.
The FlirOne is nowhere near being the same thing, and not competing with the likes of the E4.

[hgg]

Hello Mike,

The thing with the Flir i3 is that it does not have the MSX edge detection which I think it a great
way to view thermal images.

[emptech]

I'm new to this forum, just discovered it via a youtube video on the e4.  I purchased an e40 about a year ago.  It suits my needs, I looked at several models, comparing Fluke and FLIR.  Although I own lots of Fluke equipment, I felt that Fluke just purchased a company, didn't really design the equipment as FLIR did.

I've had problems with my e40, their documentation stinks.  You would think that for all that money, they would have some detailed info on their product.  I've used their tech support, but have found out more about the camera by just playing with it.  More recently my problems have been connecting to a mobile hot spot on an android phone and viewing the live video remotely, finally got it working.

It would seem reasonable that the binary file that is downloaded to the device could be patched, we've done it for years on Motorola two way radios, etc, and it seems that's whats happening on the e4.

So that being said, anybody played with an e40 yet?

Jim

[mikeselectricstuff]

I'm new to this forum, just discovered it via a youtube video on the e4.  I purchased an e40 about a year ago.  It suits my needs, I looked at several models, comparing Fluke and FLIR.  Although I own lots of Fluke equipment, I felt that Fluke just purchased a company, didn't really design the equipment as FLIR did.

I've had problems with my e40, their documentation stinks.  You would think that for all that money, they would have some detailed info on their product.  I've used their tech support, but have found out more about the camera by just playing with it.  More recently my problems have been connecting to a mobile hot spot on an android phone and viewing the live video remotely, finally got it working.

It would seem reasonable that the binary file that is downloaded to the device could be patched, we've done it for years on Motorola two way radios, etc, and it seems that's whats happening on the e4.

So that being said, anybody played with an e40 yet?

Jim

I think at least one E40 user reported in the E4 teardown thread that they had managed to hack to E60 spec with a method  very similar to the E4.
A lot of people would like to know what wifi hardware is in the  Ex0 series to see if can be added to the E4 - any chance of a teardown...?

[emptech]

Mike:

I'm usually not afraid to take things apart, don't mind lifting the hood to see what's inside.  I've done so
with cameras, lenses, etc.  Looking for screws, I've seen three above the LCD, but there are probably more
hidden elsewhere, perhaps under the lens ring which has to be removed to add an auxiliary lens.  I don't
have the time to take it apart right now, too many other unfinished projects.

What would you be looking for, a module plugged into the main board?

I wish somebody would make up a flow chart with all the camera settings.  The user manual could be a lot
better.

I remember many years ago, patching data files to be downloaded to a device, having to re-calculate
checksums in order for the s/w to accept the modified files.  I suppose creating a new CRC would be about the
same.

One thing, I sure don't want to brick this camera, I paid about $4K for it.

If anybody out there has any questions about this model I can answer, I'll try.

FLIR could have done better with their tripod socket.  There is a threaded hole but no way a tripod could
be attached.  FLIR sells an adapter, got to hold one once, pretty mickey mouse.  I machined my own, much
better than theirs.  It's nice to have a machine shop, sorry, no cnc here.

What video editing program do you use?  I used to use Media Studio Pro, they got bought out by Corel,
who killed the product.  I since moved to Magix, but am not impressed.

Jim

[mikeselectricstuff]

Mike:

I'm usually not afraid to take things apart, don't mind lifting the hood to see what's inside.  I've done so
with cameras, lenses, etc.  Looking for screws, I've seen three above the LCD, but there are probably more
hidden elsewhere, perhaps under the lens ring which has to be removed to add an auxiliary lens.  I don't
have the time to take it apart right now, too many other unfinished projects.

The case looks similar to the E4 - take a look at the E4 teardown vid - there are screws hidden behind the lens surround.

What would you be looking for, a module plugged into the main board?

Could be a plug-in module, could be on the  main board - should'nt be hard to spot as it will be in a shielding can.

What video editing program do you use?  I used to use Media Studio Pro, they got bought out by Corel,
who killed the product.  I since moved to Magix, but am not impressed.

Sony Vegas (the cheapest version).

[Fraser]

Reference the tripod socket adapter.... I wish FLIR had bothered to include one on the E4. Even a poorly positioned one is better than none at all ! I saw a 3D Plastic adapter for the Exx series on thingiverese. Looked pretty good.

http://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=flir

They named it "FLIR Camera Tripod Mount"

[EEVblog]

What video editing program do you use?  I used to use Media Studio Pro, they got bought out by Corel,
who killed the product.  I since moved to Magix, but am not impressed.

Like Mike I use Sony Movie Studio Platinum 12. Have never found a need for the full Vegas package.
Used to use Corel (ULEAD) Video Studio, but Sony was faster and had better audio waveform display editing ability.
I really liked NCH VideoPad but it had compatibility issues with my camera files.