Thermal Imaging Youtube Channel

[AranLeer]

Hello everyone.

I really hope there is no problem making a post like this, and if it is against policy please tell me and I'll take it down.
I'm new to this.

My name is Luke Abbott.
I'm a huge fan of the way technology lets you see things that are normally unseen. I currently own a FLIR One G1, and it has seriously changed my whole perspective on what the world really looks like. It's such a cool device, and I always want to share my experiences with others.

As such I'm looking to start a youtube channel showcasing what the everyday world around us really looks like when seen through a thermal camera. I would love to have others get the same joy out of it that I have.

However, the F1G1 is really not up to the task of truly conveying the thermal world through a visual medium such as YouTube.
As such, I'm starting a fundraiser to raise enough money to purchase 1 (or more) nicer thermal cameras to use in recording and displaying the awesome world hidden just down the light spectrum.

I figure if we all give even a tiny amount, it will be enough for a channel dedicated to letting everyone experience the everyday in a completely new light together.

And for the people who frequent this blog specifically, if I could raise enough money, I would gladly make as many comparison videos as possible showing off the specific differences between thermal cameras from FLIR, Fluke, Seek, Therm-App, Thermal Expert, etc. And I would always be open to suggestions of videos to make so that you could all get the videos you wanted.

If you're interested at all, please follow this link to my Go Fund Me page, and support the project with even a $1 contribution. I would be so appreciative!
https://www.gofundme.com/SeeTheUnseen

Let's all See the Unseen together!

Thank you all!

[efahrenholz]

Hmmm.

Ad much as I am all for advancing the realm of thermal imaging, I just don't think you are going to get the attention on it. Thermal imaging is a *very* niche market with a smallwe following of hobbyists. It's mostly due to cost of ownership. The recent fall in price for entry level options is really more of a placebo. There has been a small interest in portable smartphone enabled cameras and the market clearly showed some energy when Seek came out with the compact. FLIR rushed out and brought the iPhone 5 only model and they got crushed, prompting them to release a version compatible with many more phones. We've had a few more new devices released but truthfully I think the trend will wither away as consumer demand begins to fall. FLIR is the driver in the Thermal imaging market. If they don't find it profitable, all of these keychain sized cameras will stop coming out. Seek may or may not survive, but I see them being purchased in the near future. The 320x240 camera they developed sucks frankly, and FLIR may retalliate with a higher resolution Lepton, but they won't go further with it because it will cut into their professional lines.

Basically, in a nutshell, I just don't see this being a longterm thing. It's popular, and it will lose steam as people new to the field get bored with these things.

[NathanFowler]

I figure if we all give even a tiny amount, it will be enough for a channel dedicated to letting everyone experience the everyday in a completely new light together.

I'm a little leery of the $3,000 goal and financing someone's toys   I absolutely recommend the upgrade to the F1G2, I previously owned the F1G1 and while I really enjoyed always having it with me, the resolution of the F1G2 is night and day better than the F1G1.  Well worth the money and I picked it up for $180ish USD from an Amazon deal.

Honestly, while your goals are admirable, you're asking folks who have an interest in thermal imaging to help fund your equipment so you can make YouTube videos demonstrating the exciting things about the LWIR world.  I'd be more inclined to put such donated funds towards my own toys. *grin*

[Fraser]

I speak from experience when I say it is very expensive to procure a collection of thermal cameras for reviews and comparisons. That and a lot of luck buying used kit on eBay. Any camera more advanced than the budget consumer offerings cost serious money. You can easily spend $3000 on just one decent used camera. The Therm-App and Thermal Expert are both excellent value for money but they are already well represented on this forum.

When reviewing a cameras image quality, still images are far better than a you tube video. YT is really only of benefit for describing functionality and observing image frame rate.

People can be generous, but I do not think you will find the support you are looking for here. Anyone wanting a thermal camera has either bought one already or would read one of the many reviews already on the net.  If you want to create You Tube content for the fun of it, I wish you well.

If you want backing to play with a camera, you could try a different approach..... Offer shares in the camera purchase and one of the share holders gets to keep the camera via a raffle after your review.

Fraser

[Kilrah]

Maybe you could make an example video of what you plan to do, even if it's with a less good camera than what you hope to be able to get.

I do have a thermal camera, and while things are indeed interesting to look at I have a hard time seeing how you could make something narratively interesting with only a thermal camera.
It's a good tool to add context, data and value to a broader scale production, but doesn't really cut it on its own.

I also agree that expecially on this forum most of those who are really interested in thermal imaging already have one or more cameras, and the others, being engineers/techs would rather want to save to get their own to play with.

Making your channel interesting for people you find here would require great production effort e.g. cover things that are out of reach for most, like going on a volcano, inspecting unusual industrial equipment, look at a running jet engine,...

[Bill W]

It is certainly my intention to get more online from the collection of EEV/Marconi/e2v cameras that I have, both stills and video.  I may also take some new footage but mostly this is from 10 year old cameras. To a degree, anyone can do that from eBay.

I will also put in links as I become aware of interesting footage on manufacturer sites and if I get the opportunity to take get some interesting footage from more recent cameras.
For example, one file awaiting a page to link it from is this one of a steam train.....

http://www.fire-tics.co.uk/images/steam%20train.avi

Bill

www.fire-tics.co.uk

[AranLeer]

Hello Everyone.
Thank you all so much for you comments! I really appreciate the notes and advice. In terms of "what" and "why" I feel it might help to explain myself a bit better.

I have been watching the consumer thermal camera community for a while now, and have personally loved viewing every image and video I could find showing the world around us in "high-quality" thermal (as high quality as technology currently allows). And so have been saving up to purchase my own high quality camera over a period of some time. I already nearly have enough to purchase one of the cameras along the lines of a Thermal Expert Q1+, and so that will likely happen in the coming months without any help from the Go Fund Me page.

The idea of the YouTube channel is that thermography has become a bit of a hobby for me and I find great joy in looking at all the little things around us through a thermal camera (albeit 80x60 pixels currently). So I will be taking those pictures and videos for my personal enjoyment no matter what. I just thought since it's something I will be doing anyway, I might as well start a channel featuring anything interesting I find from my own experiences. I would almost certainly end up posting over a hundred videos over time, showing off a very wide variety of things. Some would be technical, but most would just be for the thermography itself. That kind of a channel I have not seen before, and it is one that I wish existed. So I plan on making it myself. And I'm sure there are other people out there who would enjoy it as well.

But I want to make it clear that I'm not trying to start a channel with the hopes that it will be profitable, or get a certain quota of views. That's irrelevant to me, which is why I'm not worried about exactly how much interest is out there. If even one other person finds it as interesting as I do, it will have been worth it.

And speaking of audience, again I have no specific audience in mind. I have posted my Go Fund Me page here, as well as several other places. I understand most people on this forum are more technical, and more inclined to want to buy their own camera as opposed to fund mine, but this is a place where topical interest is guaranteed, so I thought I'd cast out my line, and see if I could get a few bites.

Now, as far as the Go Fund Me page, the purpose of that page is to see if I can gather enough interest that instead of getting a Thermal Expert Q1+, I could instead upgrade to something like the Thermal Expert V1, which would produce much nicer, cleaner video for something like a YouTube channel. Then, if there *really* was enough interest, it would give me the opportunity to purchase more than one camera and compare. But I'll be honest - I wasn't expecting to get that kind of interest.

Truthfully, I wasn't *expecting* any particular amount of interest. The whole idea is very much a "let's see if" kind of thing. So far there hasn't been much interest, and that's ok because I wasn't expecting much. This would just be a way where, if I got more interest, I could make better quality productions for others. But for just my personal use, the Thermal Expert Q1+ will be more than enough.

So hopefully that helps everyone understand where I'm coming from a bit better.
And who knows, maybe as consumer thermal cameras become more popular, my channel may raise enough money to upgrade at a later date. The market is certainly moving fast.

And finally, thank you all again for the comments and interest!
- Luke Abbott