Awesome! What a cool little unit.
In another thread you said it was likely that most of the cameras used the same sensor but that the frame rate and resolution was reduced in software. Is there any way to verify this now that you have a unit in your hands?
Mike, do you have any experience with Flir I3? How would you compare them? Does the I3 has better macro resolution out of the box? They are in the same price range.
If there was a hack available to get this up to 20fps i would buy it right now.
The optics (and probably the sensor) are largely the same, but the E4 has the secondary visual camera for outline overlay.
Quote from: PsiIf there was a hack available to get this up to 20fps i would buy it right now.I talked to 3 FLIR / Fluke / "forgor brand" engineers at Electronex, 2 of whom were from Germany R+D.
The models they showed me were 50fps !! I was told, IF you buy these out of Germany (maybe Europe? as well),
there are NO FPS restrictions, unlike in/out of USA. I feel a hack coming up :-) ?
I'm kicking myself for not buying the demo E5 for 1/2 price.
They do have a soft case option, and looking at the prices of the soft and hard cases on their accessory page, they could sell the unit $100 less with this, which I think many users would prefer.
Are you sure about the optics? The viewing angle of the I3 is 12.5 degrees vs 45 degrees of the E4 which is about x4 zoom. *If* they have the same minimum focus distance than the I3 can have > x2 linear resolution (e.g. when inspecting PCB's).
The UI lag is also surprising, given how simple it is and how much this unit costs.
...And the Chinese could be catching up...
http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/914920042/DT_9875_Thermal_Imager_Infrared_Thermal.html
Good hardware, but rather disappointing firmware. Unless the sensor needs a long time to initialise (does it need to heat up/cool down to a specific temperature?) I don't see any reason why it should need more than a second to get from cold power-off to full operation, like a regular digital camera.
The OS also appears to be full of unneeded crap which is slowing things down - one of the debug messages is "WlanTask" - does it even have wireless? Also a little amusing that apparently at the end it has to parse XML... another thing that IMHO should never be needed in a device like this.
...And the Chinese could be catching up...
http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/914920042/DT_9875_Thermal_Imager_Infrared_Thermal.html
Good hardware, but rather disappointing firmware. Unless the sensor needs a long time to initialise (does it need to heat up/cool down to a specific temperature?) I don't see any reason why it should need more than a second to get from cold power-off to full operation, like a regular digital camera.
Startup from standby is reasonable, given the use of an OS.QuoteThe OS also appears to be full of unneeded crap which is slowing things down - one of the debug messages is "WlanTask" - does it even have wireless? Also a little amusing that apparently at the end it has to parse XML... another thing that IMHO should never be needed in a device like this.Probably due to having a common platform for a wide range of models - The Ex0 series has WifiQuote...And the Chinese could be catching up...
http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/914920042/DT_9875_Thermal_Imager_Infrared_Thermal.htmlI wonder if they actually make the sensors - this is the main cost, and tech barrier - until a low-cost manufacturer can make sensors, these things are never going to get much cheaper.
Flir own so much of the market that they can charge £4K+ for 320x240, when I suspect the hardware is identical to the 80x60, with the possible exception of the lens.
They do have a soft case option, and looking at the prices of the soft and hard cases on their accessory page, they could sell the unit $100 less with this, which I think many users would prefer.
When they're trying to make a low-cost product, and there's a way that's this obvious to reduce its price by 10%, you really have to wonder why they didn't do it.
These guy do appear to make their own sensors:
http://www.dali-tech.us/products/dlc160-58.html