Flir E4 Thermal imaging camera teardown

[john19]

I looked at your website to your others panoramas. Great.
Which software you using for stitching of 16 Bit RAW Images?

I use PTGui. It's very competent (probably the best stitcher available) but maybe not very beginner friendly.

The other panoramas on my web site look much better if you use the DevalVR option (requires plugin) instead of Flash. DevalVR uses hardware acceleration. Only for Windows though.

[Bovvy]

A question to US E4 owners out there:

What is the input voltage of the supplied charger?

[mikeselectricstuff]

I've updated my zip to enable zoom in the template file - I've not been reading recent developments much recently - is there anything else that needs upading/new links etc.?

[Fraser]

Just so you are aware. The plug pack supplied with the E4 is multi voltage and is a Power Supply rather than a charger. Input is 100V to 240Vac. Output is 5Vdc at up to 2100mA. The power supply has integral US pins plus several adapters for other countries. Its a decent quality power supply. I am located in the UK but all the adapters are provided. FLIR distribute the same E4 camera kit worldwide.

[Bovvy]

Thank you for the information Aurora.

[Taucher]

A shell-exec (TNT, are you reading this) from the menu would allow us to develop own application for the Ex and map them to a button!
--> I already confirmed that I can cross-compile an application.exe and get a confirmable message-box for the Ex when starting the app via telnet. Having a chance to start that app by pressing a regular menu button would mean we could make our own menu with any function we like - I hope you get my point

Any chance of a very rough howto for the dev environment? I'm not very much up to speed with windows dev environments due to an abundance of I-dont-care, but for the E4 there's enough incentive to flush some time... So if you maybe have a some pointers + sample config/make/project files of something that does something on the E4 then that would be very much appreciated.

It's a simple hello world style application - regarding the toolchain:
Option1: Visual Studio 2005 + Pocket PC SDK
Option2: http://cegcc.sourceforge.net/docs/using.html

[daves]

Guys, I am working on my batch version of Tomas123 flir.php. Right now I am working on report tool.
The idea is to automatically create report by one command. No interaction needed.

See attachment what I do have now - this is first page. What data you expect to fill free corner ?

I plan some kind of histogram - which temperatures in which count are populated over image.
But I can put there some more info, like min, max, avg temp ... ... ... ...

Ideas ?

[MFSiNC]

Just joined to say thanks!

Delivered today from PASS, I've just done the resolution and menu mods. Working perfectly!

Calibration date: Dec 20, 2013
Serial: 63910xxx
Model: E4 1.1
SW: 1.19.8

[Mikesus]

Somebody had positive experience using Flir Ex as webacam?

Sure, just not in skype. UVC mode is pretty universal, so it should work with lots of software. So far I haven't encountered any issues.

Interestingly, it works with FaceTime


And for those that were following my saga with my e4 stating SD card not installed, and then finally getting stuck on the boot logo, FLIR replaced the camera as defective.   

Replacement is working perfectly.  (as a e4+   )

[pomonabill221]

Somebody had positive experience using Flir Ex as webacam?

Sure, just not in skype. UVC mode is pretty universal, so it should work with lots of software. So far I haven't encountered any issues.

Interestingly, it works with FaceTime


And for those that were following my saga with my e4 stating SD card not installed, and then finally getting stuck on the boot logo, FLIR replaced the camera as defective.   

Replacement is working perfectly.  (as a e4+   )

SO I gather that you had Flir replace the camera?  Did you "upgrade" it before returning it and downgrade it before sending it back?  Just wondering if you left it as an E4+ and sent it back to Flir....

[Mikesus]

Somebody had positive experience using Flir Ex as webacam?

Sure, just not in skype. UVC mode is pretty universal, so it should work with lots of software. So far I haven't encountered any issues.

Interestingly, it works with FaceTime


And for those that were following my saga with my e4 stating SD card not installed, and then finally getting stuck on the boot logo, FLIR replaced the camera as defective.   

Replacement is working perfectly.  (as a e4+   )

SO I gather that you had Flir replace the camera?  Did you "upgrade" it before returning it and downgrade it before sending it back?  Just wondering if you left it as an E4+ and sent it back to Flir....

There wasn't anything to upgrade or downgrade as it was not even showing up as a USB device.  Seems that it had a board failure of some sort.  Strange part was it was a slow progression.  First it wouldn't allow storage of images, and then it hit a point that it wouldn't even get past the boot screen.

[synapsis]

And once again, Dave and Mike's videos cause me to spend money...

Hardware E4 v1.1
Firmware 1.19.8
Ordered 1/2, delivered 1/3 from Tequipment.
Cal date Dec 11, 2013 Estonia
Serial 639098xx

[pomonabill221]

Somebody had positive experience using Flir Ex as webacam?

Sure, just not in skype. UVC mode is pretty universal, so it should work with lots of software. So far I haven't encountered any issues.

Interestingly, it works with FaceTime


And for those that were following my saga with my e4 stating SD card not installed, and then finally getting stuck on the boot logo, FLIR replaced the camera as defective.   

Replacement is working perfectly.  (as a e4+   )

SO I gather that you had Flir replace the camera?  Did you "upgrade" it before returning it and downgrade it before sending it back?  Just wondering if you left it as an E4+ and sent it back to Flir....

There wasn't anything to upgrade or downgrade as it was not even showing up as a USB device.  Seems that it had a board failure of some sort.  Strange part was it was a slow progression.  First it wouldn't allow storage of images, and then it hit a point that it wouldn't even get past the boot screen.

Oh I see!  Well then it's good that it showed it's faults before you did anything to it then!  Thanks!

[Radget]

From Tequipment.net, delivered 1/3/14
Model: E4 1.1
SN: 63910XXX
Software: 1.19.8
Calibration: Dec. 11, 2013

Successfully applied resolution change and BETA3 menu "additions".

Needed to install FLIR device drivers (flir_device_drivers.exe) separately (after FLIR tools installation). I thought the drivers were already installed in the FLIR Tools installation. Until the driver installation, I couldn't FTP, telnet etc. to install the menu additions and was hunting for the device on other IPs than 192.168.0.2 as a few reported other locations.

Initial "surprise" - how much obvious light reflections show on the hybrid visible/thermal image. It would be helpful to get a "thermal only" image option to subtract this out sometimes.

[ixfd64]

TEquipment.NET is almost out of E4's again. Man, these things are flying off the shelves...

[daves]

It would be helpful to get a "thermal only" image option to subtract this out sometimes.

When you shot photo, there is raw thermal image stored inside, no matter what shooting mode you were in. You can always look on raw IR image in Flir tools, even if you shot as MSX image.

[Fraser]

@Mikesus,

Thanks for letting us know the outcome of your E4 issue. I was thinking about your fault the other day, and was going to PM you to see how you were getting on getting it repaired.

I am pleased that FLIR just replaced the camera rather than going down the repair route, as some manufacturers like to do. 

[Fraser]

@Radget,

I am a little unsure what you mean by 'light reflections'

I presume that you are aware that a thermal camera cannot actually 'see' visible light and the MSX visible camera produces outline detail only.

Thermal cameras see thermal energy, so if an object is reflective at thermal wavelengths it will actually show you THERMAL reflections. Most commonly this is reflections of sources of heat like radiators, fires, Tungsten/Halogen light bulbs or even yourself. You are a 37C thermal projector and your own body heat reflects off of reflective objects. Be aware that a thermal reflector can take many forms and does not necessarily look reflective at visible light wavelengths. A shiny surface such as a whiteboard, many metal surfaces and even gloss paper act as thermal 'mirrors' when observing a scene. As an experiment......use your thermal camera to look at yourself in a Mirror. Then do the same using a plain glass window. The mirrors silver reflective surface is not 'in play' in this test.....the reflectivity occurs at the surface of the glass and does not need a reflective coating on the rear to work at thermal wavelengths. Glass is opaque at thermal wavelengths.

Do not take this as any sort of criticism or negative comment, but you need to read some books on the use of a thermal camera in order to understand what is actually happening in the image that you are viewing via the camera. Thermography is a very different world to that of visible light and needs to be interpreted correctly in order to make sense of the scene and what it is telling you. This is important when looking at houses as you can get some pretty odd results due to the various materials used and their physical properties. A Thermographer is trained to interpret the images and understand the limitations of the technology. Emissivity is a key element of thermography and a failure to understand its importance renders the Thermal camera little more than a toy in such hands.  As I say, no criticism of you here....your experience is VERY common and you will quickly understand why you get these odd/distracting results once you have read some of the freely available training material available from FLIR and via the internet.

Hope this helps.

[daves]

I presume that you are aware that a thermal camera cannot actually 'see' visible light and the MSX visible camera produces outline detail only.

MSX also pick up light reflections, not just outline details. See image - for example the LUK sticker on the door or reflection on glass.
Any light reflection will show in MSX image making it more yellow/white => warmer. While actually is not warm. And I think this is what he meant.

[Fraser]

Ah I see what you mean. OK. I will let my post stand though as it applies to reflective surfaces and newbies may be unaware.

Thanks for clarifying the MSX issue.

Update:

It is sometimes challenging the determine whether the visible light portrayed by the MSX is also thermal energy reflection as well though. This occurs with a conventional light bulb that radiates light and lots of heat energy that reflects in the same manner as the light. The stickers in your image will also have a higher emissivity than a matted paint surface on which they are stuck. This is one of the reasons why a camera must also have the 'thermal only' view option. The user can compare the MSX and Thermal image to determine what is truly thermal emissions. An auto reflected light deletion algorithm might delete genuine thermal detail that is common with visible light detail ? Much would depend on how 'clever' it was. The human eye and brain is a very good differential detector.
 

[kanzas19]

Thanks to all for a wonderful job    and Happy New Year!
My Cinderella E4, BETA3 changed the beautiful Princess of.
I have a question.
What to do to FLIR logo was visible in the pictures (in BETA3)?
Thank you in advance for your response.

[tomas123]

Guys, I am working on my batch version of Tomas123 flir.php.

I plan some kind of histogram - which temperatures in which count are populated over image.

Ideas ?

hi daves

lets play around with the sample macro image from Mavro
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/flir-e4-thermal-imaging-camera-teardown/msg341533/#msg341533

Code: [Select]

exiftool -b -RawThermalImage withlens.jpg | convert - gray:- | convert -depth 16 -endian msb -size 320x240 gray:- -auto-level withlens.png

convert withlens.png -define histogram:unique-colors=false histogram:histogram_gray.png

convert -size 200x256 gradient:gray0-gray100 -rotate -90 gray_range.png

convert histogram_gray.png gray_range.png -compose multiply -composite hist_gray.png

exiftool -b -Palette withlens.jpg | convert -size 224X1 -depth 8 RGB:- -separate -swap 1,2 -set colorspace YCbCr -combine -colorspace sRGB -level 4096,60928 -resize 448x30! iron16.png

convert hist_gray.png iron16.png -clut hist_color.png

convert hist_color.png -fuzz 0.5% -transparent black hist_color_trans.png- you must replace the auto-level with the ImageMagick fx operator

edit 1
- the last line is only a quick-and-dirty hack and removes also the count of black pixels (make it transparent)
better use histogram_gray.png as a mask

Code: [Select]

convert hist_color.png histogram_gray.png  -alpha off -compose CopyOpacity -composite hist_color_trans.png
result


edit 2
better version see here
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/flir-e4-thermal-imaging-camera-teardown/msg361468/#msg361468


Nobody here works with FlirTools?
I have not received comments on my post "zoom injection"
 https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/flir-e4-thermal-imaging-camera-teardown/msg359747/#msg359747

[daves]

Nobody here works with FlirTools?
I have not received comments on my post "zoom injection"

I do. I immediately tested your zoom, once you posted it. Worked well, great tool too. Thanks.

Thank you for your tricks with histogram. You are "convert" master. I would do same job pixel by pixel in php 

I will try to play with it a little.

[tomas123]

...Which software you using for stitching of 16 Bit RAW Images?

I use PTGui. It's very competent (probably the best stitcher available) but maybe not very beginner friendly.

thanks, I tested PTGui with moderate success
PTGui don't accept grayscale 16 Bit Images (needs sRGB) and it's necessary to stretch the brightness with level operator for auto detect control points

Code: [Select]

$ convert _*.tif -resize 480x -sharpen 0x1 -level 9400,15500 -colorspace sRGB _a%03d.png

[tomas123]

I would do same job pixel by pixel in php 

php loops are slow

there are also some nice scripts with imagemagick and gnu plot

http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/scripts/im_histogram
and
http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/scripts/im_graph

sample (search for im_histogram and im_graph on this site: http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/color_mods )