@Mike,
Sadly I am not an optics expert so can offer no definitive comment on this. The lens is a significant factor when it comes to producing a decent image, and I do know that Megapixel visible light cameras benefit greatly from Megapixel quality lens. No its not just sales jargon. Megapixel lenses are just better quality than non Megapixel types.
When it comes to the FLIR ONE I am thinking along the lines of a cheap Web Cam. I have seen some pretty awful cheap and nasty 320x240 webcams that have lenses so small that you think they are actually using a pin hole. Yet they still mange to produce a reasonable image. I had a specialist security system that contained a camera having an on die glass bead lens of only ~1mm diameter. That camera still managed to produce a 320x240 visible light image, albeit a fisheye type, so full of distortion (note to self... (find that camera in my attic and show it on this blog
)
I am not sure how small a lens can be at 160x120 resolution before it seriously impacts on the image produced.
We do know that lens will be either GASIR or or some similar cheap to manufacture process. The quality of the lens material could be an issue as I know that GASIR is not as good as Germanium when used in thermal camera lenses.
All interesting stuff. I don't think I will batter FLIR Customer Services with any more probing questions for the moment though
As a side note, I originally wrote to FLIR customer support and they redirected me to a dedicated FLIR ONE team with its own support staff. It would appear that the FLIR ONE has its own enclave within the greater FLIR company. This is clever thinking as the target market for the ONE cameras is far more likely to ask lots of support related questions. Having such an enclave takes this load off of the support staff who look after Industry etc. Maybe that is why my simple, but technical, question caused an issue. Maybe the support team are expecting questions along the lines of "how to I install the application?, how to I charge the camera?, does it work under water ?, will it work with my XYZ phone" etc etc
Asking about Pixels probably made some poor support officers brain explode
Aurora