Flir E4 Thermal imaging camera teardown

[plesa]

Did someone encoutered issue - when Flir E4 camera is connected to PC it is unable to boot?
I would like to aks is is possible to modify the camera settings to set the black background to some transparency level?

[jdesbonnet]

Encountered a weird one this morning: it failed to warm boot while disconnected from USB (FLIR logo would appear and thermal for a brief instant, then off). Tried twice.  I had it in webcam mode last night (using VLC). My first thought was battery was low, but plugged USB cable ... indicated a full charge. But it *did* boot while plugged in. And it's been fine so far (plugged and unplugged).

[Mr-Beamer]

I've had this problem several times.
A cold boot solved the problem.

[Taucher]

Did someone encoutered issue - when Flir E4 camera is connected to PC it is unable to boot?
I would like to aks is is possible to modify the camera settings to set the black background to some transparency level?

I've already tried making the buttons transparent - little (read:no) success - the binary probably doesn't load the menu images in alpha enabled mode (in order to conserve processing power?) - the numbers (incl. design) are probably just hardcoded ... but I'd be glad to be proven wrong on this.

[plesa]

I've had this problem several times.
A cold boot solved the problem.

I mean the PC boot, not the camera itself, so it is different issue I suppose.

Did someone encoutered issue - when Flir E4 camera is connected to PC it is unable to boot?
I would like to aks is is possible to modify the camera settings to set the black background to some transparency level?

I've already tried making the buttons transparent - little (read:no) success - the binary probably doesn't load the menu images in alpha enabled mode (in order to conserve processing power?) - the numbers (incl. design) are probably just hardcoded ... but I'd be glad to be proven wrong on this.

Thanks for info. It will be nice feature.

[Fraser]

For those asking about transparent background for the on screen information, I have tried that mode on my PM695 and I can report that I found it vey hard to see the readings against some backgrounds so quickly reverted to the opaque background. Just my 2 Cents worth.

I will take a PM695 thermal image in the two modes and attach it to this message later for information.

Update: Pictures uploaded. Some provide clear text against the background, others not so clear. With a solid background the text is very clear in all cases. It is a matter of personal choice, but I use a solid background with the reduced (single tier) data block rather than the 3 tier extended data block. I am surprised that the Ex series does not offer a choice of on screen data display preferences, but I have to remind myself that it is the basic entry level series aimed at simple use..

[georges80]

I've had this problem several times.
A cold boot solved the problem.

I mean the PC boot, not the camera itself, so it is different issue I suppose.

With the E4 plugged into your PC it will appear as a storage class device. If your PC won't boot when the E4 is plugged in then you need to go into the PC bios and disable booting via USB etc. i.e. the issue is your PC, not the E4...

cheers,
george.

[plesa]

I've had this problem several times.
A cold boot solved the problem.

I mean the PC boot, not the camera itself, so it is different issue I suppose.

With the E4 plugged into your PC it will appear as a storage class device. If your PC won't boot when the E4 is plugged in then you need to go into the PC bios and disable booting via USB etc. i.e. the issue is your PC, not the E4...

cheers,
george.

No it is different, with plugged USB drive it boots-up normally and doe not matter if the camera is set to RNDIS or UVC.

[georges80]

I've had this problem several times.
A cold boot solved the problem.

I mean the PC boot, not the camera itself, so it is different issue I suppose.

With the E4 plugged into your PC it will appear as a storage class device. If your PC won't boot when the E4 is plugged in then you need to go into the PC bios and disable booting via USB etc. i.e. the issue is your PC, not the E4...

cheers,
george.

No it is different, with plugged USB drive it boots-up normally and doe not matter if the camera is set to RNDIS or UVC.

My opinion is:

Your PC is seeing a boot partition or boot information inside the E4 so is trying to boot from it. Disable the USB boot option in your bios to verify if that is the case.The E4 is appearing as a storage class and your PC is trying to boot from it since it sees something that looks bootable (given there's a wince file system in the E4).

cheers,
george.

[mrflibble]

Since that sort of behaviour depends on many things, your logic ==> arrow is not logical enough. Which is another way of asking: did you actually try 1) turning it off and on yet 2) disable USB boot in the bios. Because it is a pretty good candidate for the behavior you describe. That, and "but but USB disk #1 doesn't cause any problems" is really no guarantee that a totally different disk on a different port (potentially even a different chipset) will not cause issues.

So if you have not actually tested disabling USB boot in bios, then this would be a good idea to check.

[PedroDaGr8]

Since that sort of behaviour depends on many things, your logic ==> arrow is not logical enough. Which is another way of asking: did you actually try 1) turning it off and on yet 2) disable USB boot in the bios. Because it is a pretty good candidate for the behavior you describe. That, and "but but USB disk #1 doesn't cause any problems" is really no guarantee that a totally different disk on a different port (potentially even a different chipset) will not cause issues.

So if you have not actually tested disabling USB boot in bios, then this would be a good idea to check.

Also and more importantly most usb drives will not have a partition flagged as a boot partition because they are storage only. This camera on the other hand likely will. Since it needs to boot its firmware.

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk

[jdesbonnet]

Anyone got pointers on extracting radiometric data from the JPEG images using open source tools (or documentation that would enable me to write such software)?

[PedroDaGr8]

Anyone got pointers on extracting radiometric data from the JPEG images using open source tools (or documentation that would enable me to write such software)?

For image data analysis in a lab setting in the past I've used ImageJ. It's open source, java based and very useful for performing a variety of measurements and data extractions. It's powerful but has a bit of a learning curve. Plus you can write plugins and macros for it.
 
Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk

[mrflibble]

Anyone got pointers on extracting radiometric data from the JPEG images using open source tools (or documentation that would enable me to write such software)?

Exiftool + ImageMagick.

Sample usage: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/flir-e4-thermal-imaging-camera-teardown/msg325366/#msg325366

[OrBy]

Anyone got pointers on extracting radiometric data from the JPEG images using open source tools (or documentation that would enable me to write such software)?

Exiftool + ImageMagick.

Sample usage: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/flir-e4-thermal-imaging-camera-teardown/msg325366/#msg325366

I found this worked quite well but I needed to add the full paths to convert.exe since Windows 7 has a command line tool named "convert" as well:

Code: [Select]

exiftool FLIR0010.jpg -RawThermalImage -b | C:\"Program Files"\ImageMagick-6.8.7-Q16\convert.exe - -interlace none -depth 16 r:- | C:\"Program Files"\ImageMagick-6.8.7-Q16\convert.exe -size 320x240 -interlace none -depth 16 -endian msb gray:- problem_solved.png
and

Code: [Select]

C:\"Program Files"\ImageMagick-6.8.7-Q16\convert.exe problem_solved.png -normalize -depth 8 raw_image_relative.png
worked for me.

I poked around a little bit so see if there was away to get some sort of colorized output aside from the grey scale but failed. (didn't try hard)

Results (try a guess at what that is) :

[ullki]

Results (try a guess at what that is) :

The excellent resolution of FLIR TICs made this far too easy It's a very central piece for a thing very central to people from (at least) the US, and without it, USA would literarily stop. (My European prejudices )

Make and model is harder, but it seems like a V or boxer configuration and with a turbocharger.

/U

[tomas123]

@OrBy
after this simple convert, your grayscale is not linear to temperature

see this post:
http://u88.n24.queensu.ca/exiftool/forum/index.php/topic,4898.msg23972.html#msg23972

here you find a sample php script with all steps:
http://u88.n24.queensu.ca/exiftool/forum/index.php/topic,4898.msg24230.html#msg24230
( last version: http://u88.n24.queensu.ca/exiftool/forum/index.php/topic,4898.msg26102.html#msg26102 )

[mrflibble]

here you find a sample php script with all steps:
http://u88.n24.queensu.ca/exiftool/forum/index.php/topic,4898.msg24230.html#msg24230
( last version: http://u88.n24.queensu.ca/exiftool/forum/index.php/topic,4898.msg26102.html#msg26102 )

Ooooh, nice! Your script has a few steps I didn't have yet. Thank you!

I did something lame based on median + applying palette in a linear fashion. Generated surprisingly good results given the lameless, but still not perfect. Looks like you are doing it properly.

Must ... assimilate ...

[SPRX]

I ordered my Flir E8 (formally known as E4) today to join the club..!   

Will see how it goes.....

[amyk]

Also and more importantly most usb drives will not have a partition flagged as a boot partition because they are storage only. This camera on the other hand likely will. Since it needs to boot its firmware.

This camera is not a PC, its boot process is very different from a PC.

But your PC hanging because the camera is connected could be due to the USB enumeration that the BIOS does at bootup, either the camera returns something that confuses the BIOS or the BIOS sent something that confuses the camera and it's waiting for a response.

[OrBy]

Results (try a guess at what that is) :

The excellent resolution of FLIR TICs made this far too easy It's a very central piece for a thing very central to people from (at least) the US, and without it, USA would literarily stop. (My European prejudices )

Make and model is harder, but it seems like a V or boxer configuration and with a turbocharger.

/U

Right on the 1st count, 2nd count not so much (cant fault ya - it's a oddball) - VW 2.0L 4cy with a supercharger.

@OrBy
after this simple convert, your grayscale is not linear to temperature

see this post:
http://u88.n24.queensu.ca/exiftool/forum/index.php/topic,4898.msg23972.html#msg23972

here you find a sample php script with all steps:
http://u88.n24.queensu.ca/exiftool/forum/index.php/topic,4898.msg24230.html#msg24230
( last version: http://u88.n24.queensu.ca/exiftool/forum/index.php/topic,4898.msg26102.html#msg26102 )

Whoa - snazzy!

Here is my friends laser cat after running through tomas123's flir.php:

[Mavro]

Here is the lens holder 3d printed from Shapeways in black material with ZnSe 20mm x 2.5" lens (purchased from eBay).  It works pretty well!

1st Photo: Lens holder bottom view
2nd Photo: Lens holder top view
3rd Photo: No Lens approx. 6" away from Arduino Mega
4th Photo: Lens attached approx. 3" away from Arduino Mega
5th Photo: Lens holder attached to camera

[jlr134]

I want one

[keithu]

Inspired by the impressive work of Mike and other forum members I got myself an E4. Before I apply the hack though could anyone shed some light (so to speak) on the attached image? It's a capture from the visible light camera only, in lowish light levels, and shows some horizontal noise bands.

The image was taken before I had charged the battery for the first time and I haven't been able to reproduce it since giving it a charge so the obvious conclusion is that it was something that could be reasonably expected when operating with borderline battery voltage. My concern is that if it does indicate an incipient fault that would require warranty service somewhere down the line I could lose 'hackability'.

Just as another data point,
s/n: 63908xxx
f/w: 1.19.8
cal: Nov 29 2013

[Fraser]

No such lines seen on my camera even when battery is low. Give your camera a good test over the next few days to see if it reproduces the symptom. If not, put it down to a glitch.