thermal imaging camera

[daleyd]

'Argus' was the all seeing eye in Greek Mythology or in some versions a god with a hundred eyes, which is why Ferranti named their first range of process control computers 'Argus'. The first installed one went into an ICI plant (Wilton I think) and is now in the Science Museum.

. . . just thought that you'd like to know

They made a military version that ran the command system on ships, the Ferranti MAC (Military Argus Computer). They had the program on a paper tape, and I vaguely remember some switch settings that enabled it to boot itself up (FIDS ABC) I have no idea why I know this that I learned 25 years ago and never used, yet can’t remember what I did yesterday.

 

[Migmac]

From what i understand the industrial ones are only good out to 10 yds compared to the outdoorsie type ones.

That sounds like a good range. Last night i could just about make out something at 500yds with my flir. Looking through the pard NV i could just see it was a badger.

Air temp and moisture make a huge difference to Thermals. Above 10 degrees and I don’t bother with the thermal, colder drier air is what you want. We tested new Flirs a month or so ago and they are leaps and bounds ahead of Pulsar. A much crisper picture. We were looking at sheep and cattle over a mile away and the Flirs knocked the Helion XP 50 into a cocked hat. You could see individual animals with the Flir, with the Helion you saw blobs. Downside with the Flir is that the battery is internal, you can buy an external battery but it makes it quite bulky.

 

[awemawson]

FM1600B in fact ! (All the individual modules had a 'MAC' number - Module Argus Computer) ). Installed in all Type 42 destroyers. The core of the computer system was originally developed for the (cancelled) Bloodhound missile for guidance control but transmogrified into various military variants and the Ferranti Argus 100 / 200 /300 /400 /500 and 700 process control systems. There was an Argus 600 but that was an 8 bit machine trying to compete with the PDP/8. There was even a 400 D version intended for machine tool control where the D stood for the desk it was built into!

(I worked on 400 / 500 /600 and 700's)

There are still (I believe) some Argus 500's controlling nuclear power stations.

 

[voipio]

Thermal sensor resolution is important. 80x60 pixel sensors produce quite limited thermal images, just blobs, usually superimposed on a visible light image to make it look a bit sharper. If you can afford it, go for 320x240 pixels thermal sensor resolution as a minimum, e.g. FLIR E8. It starts to become quite useful at this level. The FLIR Tools free software allows the temperature of any pixels in the image to be used to estimate temperature.

 

[addjunkie]

From what i understand the industrial ones are only good out to 10 yds compared to the outdoorsie type ones.

That sounds like a good range. Last night i could just about make out something at 500yds with my flir. Looking through the pard NV i could just see it was a badger.

I do similar with digital Atn 4k. But a man can only have so many toys, and its awfully expensive to keep up.

For fire detection and electrical maintence, they are all the rage, but I guess all these technologies move one more rapidly than us old folk can keep up with.

 

[Mattuk]

I use the Therm App device ( Basic 9Hz model ) plugged into Android based phone.
Have a couple of lens for it. Has a resolution of 384 x 288 pixels which made it a decent price compared against the other models on the market when I got it.
Works fine for me finding areas of lacking insulation, cables that are a bit too toasty, where the animals were sitting in the wood before I went out and disturbed them etc.
They have since made better models.

https://therm-app.com/

I like the idea of the CAT phone with everything built in, that is a handy tool.

 

[Mattuk]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ultrapurple/48606745532/in/pool-therm-app-users/

flickr group of folks using therm app

this one is higher res than mine

London skyline hi-res thermal

High resolution multi-image stitch of London skyline, taken from the 10th floor viewing platform of Tate Modern. Although zillions of tourists take the exact same photo in visible light, I suspect this is the first time it has ever been done as a high resolution thermal image.



ThermApp Pro 640x480 thermal imaging camera, 35mm f/1.1 lens, ThermViewer driver software with 1280x960 superresolution, stitched using Microsoft Image Composite Editor, final image tweaking in Paint Shop Pro 10.