Flir One Pro vs Seek Thermal Compact Pro.... which is best for pcb work??

[ph001]

Hi there,

Did a search but most reviews seem to compare the non-pro versions. I need a thermal camera for looking at possible high dissipation on pcb components, so tends to be fairly close up work - around 30-50cm. I know the Seek has a manual focus and higher res but the Flir has MSX which could be pretty important in identifying components but can the autofocus on the Flir focus well at this distance?

Any advice you can give would be most appreciated.

[Bill W]

A couple of points:

The FLIR MSX will show more and more parallax error as you get closer.

FLIR One / pro is fixed focus, not autofocus.

Unless you are doing HVAC the usual way to identify what is hot is a cold pointer, although you can usually identify bits on the board anyway.  A pointer is only needed for an array of 0402 etc.

regards
Bill

[ph001]

Great points - thank you. Does anybody know if the Flir can focus at 50cm and how bad the parallax error is at that range?

[sstepane]

Hi,

I have already posted on this subject - got Compact Pro and a custom made macro lens. I can get as close as 5 cm, all small elements are quite distinctive.
Here's a link (https://www.olx.ua/obyavlenie/makro-linza-dlya-teplovizora-seek-thermal-IDlNB2E.html#f45e831021) to a seller of this macro lens in my country (it has pictures and photos on the subject), but the lens itself if bought from USA (I think) and holder is 3d printed. Fairly simple. And quite cheap compared to other options.

[plazma]

Great points - thank you. Does anybody know if the Flir can focus at 50cm and how bad the parallax error is at that range?

Parallax error can be adjusted in software with a slider.

[ph001]

Thanks for all the replies but I'm still no nearer making a decision! This will only be used in a well lit area with maximum temp around 150'C. I just can't find any info anywhere on what the minimum distance is for the focus of the Flir???

[Vipitis]

I would say seek all the way. You get higher resolution and a focusable lens.

You want to know what the flir minimal focus distance it? It's 90-150cm that look the best with the Flir ONE. It's rather wide angle as well and suits best for something like cars, or buildings, in limited quality.

You can adjust MSX parallax down to 15cm with software, but it becomes really bullshit by then. It's best used in this 90-150cm range.

You could also add an auxiliary lens element and holding for that, but this adds to the price.

We had similar discussion multiple times, the most recent I saw https://www.eevblog.com/forum/thermal-imaging/flir-one-pro-vs-seek-compactpro-vs-te-q1-for-diy-house-inspection/

[Gyro]

Probably not relevant to your actual purchasing choice, but the Flir TG130 (Lepton2, 55x43deg FOV) seems reasonably happy down to 50mm (fixed focus).

[IwuzBornanerd]

A few examples from a Seek Pro set for minimum focus aimed at the back of a Raspberry Pi 2B 15cm away which has been running a non-pro Seek XR for a couple hours now.  Several different palettes "spread" different amounts...AND one shot at 10cm distance where it looks a bit out of focus. 

The hot spot is the back side of the processor & there are both 0402 & 0201 Rs & Cs in there.  You can make out the 0402s but not so much the 0201s; maybe in the 10cm shot.  You might want to give it "reading glasses" if you need better resolution OR I expect that the focusing restriction can be removed much as with the XR, IF you want to crack the thing open. (see https://www.eevblog.com/forum/thermal-imaging/seek-thermal-lens-repair/new/?topicseen#new)

With the focusing restriction removed, the XR can focus down to 5cm, but the lens is nearly out of the mount at that point.  I suspect the Pro would be similar, but have not had that one apart to know for sure.