New Tech!

[Robert Jones]

So the folks at FLIR have come out with a thermal device for use with smart phones. Interesting.

FLIR for Smart Phone

[Jim Katen]

I'm not finding any specifications. The specs will tell . . .

[John Kogel]

From Robert's link - It's a plastic gizmo with two lenses and a slide switch that attaches to the back of the phone so your phone becomes twice as thick. In other words it has limited usefulness but can produce some low resolution thermal images.

[kurt]

Yes, interesting, pretty cool.

My prediction..... a proliferation of IR selfies.

From a national security perspective, it would allow highly restricted technologies to be easily concealed and transported outside US borders.

I hate to say it, but I'll probably have to have one.

[Marc]

Like Jim, I'll wait for the specs. A low pixel count yields only blobs.

Marc

[David Meiland]

Should be popular with hunters.

[kurt]

Low pixel count = blobs, but honestly, after working with a 320x240 machine for a number of years, blobs can point one in the right direction.

What I've found.....IR points where you should dig. A few court cases in Chicago, after testimony by expert witness's, found practitioners negligent if they don't dig. I stick with the Delmhorst for hard statements.

At $350, it's a toy, but it might be a useful toy.

Hunters? For sure. I've used my machine while birding. In conjunction with a spotting scope, it's revealed stuff I'd have never seen.

[Tom Raymond]

A $350 case for your $700 phone?

Dewalt's $750 visual IR thermometer has a 15x15 IR resolution overlayed on a 120x120 visible image. Completely useless.

Flir has a line of real cameras at that price point. $995 gets you a sling psychrometer, moisture meter, and an 80 x 60 IR camera. With their new MSX image blending that might just be big enough for the average HI.

[John Kogel]

Hey Marc. Would you describe that thing as a picayune piece of equipment? []

[Charles46]

Here are a few spec's from the Flir site

Click to Enlarge

18.79 KB

[Marc]

Hey Marc. Would you describe that thing as a picayune piece of equipment? []

Given the specs Charles has posted, it doesn't yet reach the value of half a picayune. The picayune itself is half a coin.

Marc

[inspectorbello]

At the risk of seeming overly opinionated for a newbie.....I agree with others, the resolution on this cannot be very good. Applications would be really limited. Probably be best used for hunting or frog gigging! lol

[Scott Wood]

As pointed out, the FLIR One has many applications. Unfortunately, the low resolution makes visualizing the thermal patterning pretty poor. They "enhance" the image using the MXS process that overlays visual outlines over the thermal image. In addition I hear that multiple thermal images are merged, also helping fill in the thermal's initial low resolution. Both create a computer generated image that looks much better then the initial low resolution image.

An interesting false image the MXS produces is the perception that you can see through glass. The visual overlay provides an image that looks like IR can see through glass.

The low cost and suggested marketing features will create from the untrained owners, many false assumptions. As a professional thermographer I foresee many future discussions needed with clients who use this device, explaining away their perceived false interpretations.

Maybe now is a good time to require proper certifications when used for commercial applications. Especially those following ASNT, BINDT or other independent organization's guidelines. This along with application specific training from a competent organization.

[Ben H]

I should go frog gigging. It's only been 20yrs or so...

[inspectorbello]

Probably longer than that for me!

I should go frog gigging. It's only been 20yrs or so...

[inspectorbello]

Agreed, Scott!

As a professional thermographer I foresee many future discussions needed with clients who use this device, explaining away their perceived false interpretations.

Maybe now is a good time to require proper certifications when used for commercial applications. Especially those following ASNT, BINDT or other independent organization's guidelines. This along with application specific training from a competent organization.

[Marc]

...An interesting false image the MXS produces is the perception that you can see through glass. The visual overlay provides an image that looks like IR can see through glass...

Except for interference by infrared coatings, isn't infrared radiation able to penetrate glass?

Marc

[Scott Wood]

Solid materials have differing degree of transparency at different wavelengths. The thermal imager's lens is made of a metal! Borosilicate glass is 90% transmissive between 0.5-2.5 micrometers(um) (visible is 0.49-0.75um), dropping off to 5% at wavelengths around 3.5 um, becoming opaque at wavelengths greater than 5.0 um. The cooled detectors of the midrange thermal imagers (3-5um) can see through glass to some degree.

However, most are familiar with a room temperature detector, which are longwave detectors (8-14um). None of these imagers can "see" through glass as described above.

You mention coatings. It does get more complicated with coatings. Some absorb visible wavelengths, blocking them, re-emitting the energy as a longer wavelength (infrared) that we feel as heat. Some of these coating can cause the fenestration's glazing to heat up so much, that it expands shattering the glazing.

[kurt]

On a non-technical level, if one is scans across, say, a sliding glass door, it looks like an IR imaging mirror (more or less).

It's kinda ghostly.

[Scott Wood]

Yes, glass is a smooth spectral surface, providing sharp reflections in infrared, even though only about 14% reflective. Ghost hunters often use this in "discovering" ghosts with a thermal imager. If you look carefully you can see yourself waving back on some very smooth painted surfaces and always on glass surfaces.

Brushed stainless is incredibly reflective in infrared, sometimes surprising the unsuspecting.

[mlparham]

So the folks at FLIR have come out with a thermal device for use with smart phones. Interesting.

FLIR for Smart Phone

This device might be fun (or deadly) when used in a local tavern.

[kurt]

There was that disgusting and very funny episode in "Earl" where the boys were were scanned by someone with an IR imager and found to be.....ummmm....aroused.