Is anyone flying thermal cameras? I'm looking at purchasing one of these: http://www.infraredcamerasinc.com/infrared-camera-7640.html or http://www.flir.com/cvs/cores/view/?id=54717 Any suggestions? Other cameras?
We have the Tau. Works well, a bit resolution challenged, but works exactly as advertised. Given the resolution (640 × 512) I don't bother recording on the machine, I just send the video back to the ground station and record it there. On YouTube there are a number of videos to give you an idea of the capabilities. What size objects are you hoping to image?
I've changed my mind, that video has some problems, ours has better clarity - I think they have some video transmission issues.
I'm not exactly sure what we will be using it for, a thermal profile of the ground or something like that. I was planning on recording on the machine as I don't want a bad RF signal messing up the recording. I still need to find a solution for recording on the machine however. If anyone has any suggestions on a good way to do that I would like to hear them.
I was thinking of trying out my Fujifilm IS pro (which can shoot in UV and IR), but I need to research whether the LiveView mode can be transmitted to the ground -- otherwise I'd be shooting blind. No video mode, though.... The local firefighters use IR imaging to find hotspots in fires that appear to be out. Also I've seen some IR footage used for crop analysis. Andy.
We flew some thermal IR for research flights with U of Tenn. The high-res cameras are still pretty heavy, but the weights are coming down. The one we flew required some intricate rigging to mount. I think there are certainly some applications for it. Here's a photo from a test flight at the hotel: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...47233188.72905.289110254507254&type=3&theater
This might be a good solution to record the NTSC video stream in the CS8: http://www.amazon.com/VuPoint-DVC-ST100B-VP-BX4-Digital-Video-Converter/dp/B004D2PP8S It's small and cheap. I have ordered one. I'll let you know if it's any good.
Hopefully the item description is wrong: Item Weight: 3 pounds We are hyper-weight conscious so I use this little guy for recording low res on the machine, but it isn't for everyone - it requires some fiddling. http://www.foxtechfpv.com/mini-d1-quality-sd-card-video-recorder-p-451.html
Steve: That looks interesting. Could you elaborate on the fiddling that you had to do, please? Thanks Andy
I got it in yesterday and I weighed it. (btw If you need a good scale you can use the one at the self service package mailing center at the post office ) The full weight of the device is 9.2 oz. However, it has a couple of weights in it which you can take out easily that brings the weight down to 6.0 oz. If you want to leave off the case and just fly the electronics it's 1.9 oz. The electronics come in two boards; one board is just the buttons. The button board has the functions of the button labeled on the silk screen so you don't have to memorize them. The buttons are (power, record, play, and next). If I want to fly it without the case, I will have to come up with a way of mounting the two boards together. I could just hot glue them together, but that would be tacky (tacky, get it). Probably I'll make a plastic adapter. The SD card I ordered hasn't come in so I haven't tried it yet. The instructions look easy, just power it on and press record. Also, there is a switch that switches between NTSC and PAL. I'll let you know how it works when I try it out.
I tried it out. It works as advertized. Summary: $22.00 NTSC/PAL composite recorder/player, 1.9 oz, simple operation. Here is a photo:
Oh, no, it came with an enclosure. See the link and discussion above. I took it out of the enclosure to pair down the weight and the size.
Things like you have to add all the camera/power connections yourself and since it doesn't have a screen you have to hit the right sequence on the remote control to get it recording - simple stuff, but not for everyone.