is there a fisheye lens available so you can put it in front without modding the camera (i like it being tactical because I can set up a tiny tripod and take pictures outside and not worry about it being damaged too easily, I think its built well, and the keychain carry case is very good IMO). Actually impressed by how well that thing functions as a phone gadget, it does not feel like a gimmick.
Or, does anyone have a road map for grinding your own fish eye lens for a thermal camera? As I understand so long the focal length is less then the focal length of the camera it should work. I see the machines are not horribly difficult to make out of wood and I also noticed the ZnSe lens is pretty resistant to scratches and stuff in terms of not effecting the camera in a meaningful way.. optically my lens look pretty gnarly because they were left in a nasty area for 5 years and I forgot about them (scratchy), but they work just fine for microscopy.
Is one of those 20mm lens on ebay possibly a good starting point to throw on some kind of slurry grinding machine made with some cams to make a fish eye lens? I would try it if someone that knows optics would make the calculations for the lens, then I can figure out how to align the cams and grind the thing. I figure its not different then miniaturizing a telescope optic grinder.
BTW if you 3d print those thermal lens, try primer + liquid electrical tape to make them snug fit on the seek thermal lens. I tried the thingverse print on a DLP printer and I needed 1 coat of automotive primer and 2 coats of liquid electrical tape to get it probably snug enough, but I went with 1 more coat and it was a but too snug at first, but they have been sitting for another week and now it seems to work very well. I did give the adapter body and the seek thermal lens body a very careful coat of armorall though (it squeeks a bit when you put the lens on). I recommend dripping it in a medicine cup and using a q-tip to apply the armorall.
You need to coat it before you glue the lens in, and I used rubberized super glue (not recommended) and I had to clean it up with nitroalkane solvents because it spread over the lens when I pressed it in, but it seems to work fine. Alcohol was not working, you need like nitromethane or maybe the new nitro-something-benzene dichloromethane paint stripper replacement (DCM is bad now). Next time I will try using a paint brush and flowable silicone (windshield sealant). It comes in a tube and you squeeze it out and its self leveling, meaning it flows well, so you can actually paint with it. The super glue is brute force.
I have been using liquid electrical tape for the brackets and the lens housings, and it works pretty good. When you apply the liquid electrical tape to a complex bracket or such, that is hanging, you will likely end up with some drops of liquid rubber that do not want to fall off, so instead of waiting to cut them off, what I recommend doing is getting a paper towel corner thats dampened in alcohol and lightly touching them to wick it off (the finish still looks fine). Its not like a nice sleek rubber look, but it is very functional and offers a tight fit. But it grips well and thats what important, I can adjust the focus of my thermal microscope easily now. Also, I use the liquid electircal tape in a can sold in the electrical isle of the hardware store (meant for coating terminal blocks). Plasti-dip might work better and give you a smoother nicer finish, but I don't like it because I HATE throwing it away.. the liquid electrical tape was from 2015 and it worked well, and when I bought a new can a few weeks ago because I went crazy rubberizing brackets, it worked the same.
Also, the first coat over your primer will look bad, but the 2nd coat smooths it out if you let the first one partially dry.. don't freak out. I am actually impressed by the overall quality of the part considering it came from resin and spray cans. But for the brackets for the thermal camera itself, I glued the plastic holder to a bend aluminum flat bar to attach it to the tripod, I did not want to go all plastic here because the DLP prints are not tough enough. For gluing I use loctite rubberized super glue (prism loctite) and I apply the hard-to-glue medical primer to the plastic parts I am gluing (stuff is a bit expensive but you basically apply it in the thinnest coat with a brush, 1oz will glue a ridiculous amount of stuff). This stuff is impressive, if you use the primer you can super glue a polyethylene battery case to a plexiglass strip to make a battery bracket that you can screw into a metal chassis. Strong enough so you start to rip the plastic on the battery holder before there is any sign of glue seperation. (this seriously made be interested in AA and AAA batteries, since I could make a chassis mount battery holder that uses AA or AAA on the super cheap, normally they suck because mounting is hard and you need clasps or something, now I can screw em in. Way more convenient then designing lithium power circuits to power stuff! All the lithium battery management stuff is choking to implement into a simple project, wheras alkaline or nimh is trivial.
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