Message Board Thread - "Image Questions"

Title	By	Posted On
Image Questions	blkexp98	5/5/2011
Im going to try to find a good example of this but in the mean time i have a question for you. Sometimes when i tak a thermal image it comes back looking like a black and white photo more so than a thermal image. Its hard to explain but it just doesnt look like other thermal images ive taken that i feel are in focus. I usually focus my images in the grey scale and then convert them on the computer. Also the camera on my unit is a color one and im not in photo mode anyway. Too add to that i normally keep the lense cap on the camera portion when im not using it. So only the IR lense is exposed. The model is a Flir P640 and im not using any other lense or filter. Is this just a case of i had a good focus on the panel but not so much the breakers?
Re:Image Questions	dandersen	5/6/2011
I'll trade you your camera for an I5!! ;-) Yes, they can look like B&W. Remember, your camera sees heat not reflected light (digital camera). The heat signature is not as defined in objects that are close to the same apparent temperature. You may get a washout effect because of convection affecting adjacent components. In the scan you posted, you have a 35° Delta T in the panel (which appears clear) and a 15° Delta T on the circuit breakers (and probably much less than that if you move the box down into the fuzzy area). Any scan that you take that looks like a perfect black-and-white photograph, you probably do not have any significant heat source in the panel. You just need to buy a cheaper camera! Your depth of field can also cause this effect (but not apparently in this case). If you are too close to the object with a large geometric signature with a low FOV lens, everything in the panel may not be in focus.