Are InfiRay's cameras any good?

[Ben321]

I know I've seen some on Ali Express and even Digikey, and the cameras' specs look good on the official InfiRay website, but their website lists no prices (and Digikey, a company I trust, doesn't sell every model of InfiRay camera, I can only find the Digikey prices for some of their cameras, not all of them), and the other sites don't show specs (including Digikey, and even on other sites selling these that include specs there's no guarenty that they are even the same specs from site to site, even those selling the same camera, as this seems to be a Chinese company, and Chinese products often have specs all over the place, depending on which site you read, even for the same model). So I wonder if anybody here has any actual EXPERIENCE using an InfiRay camera, and how good its actual performance is, how much it cost, where you bought it, and whether the specs on the the official website actually match its actual specs. Some pics and video from your unit would be nice, to show its actual performance (some Chinese companies will use pictures captured with higher end equipment, to try to represent the capabilities of the cheaper equipment they are selling).

InfiRay's official website is https://www.infiray.com/

[svgurus]

Infiray is best microbolometer manufacturer from China, afaik, and has many thermal imagers. Which particular models are you interested in? I have HTI 301 which 90% has 17m 384*288 Infiray sensor like in xtherm t3s, photos and specs are fine for that price. Some American companies also use pictures from more expensive tools made not by them, Seek Thermal for example

[Ben321]

Infiray is best microbolometer manufacturer from China, afaik, and has many thermal imagers. Which particular models are you interested in? I have HTI 301 which 90% has 17m 384*288 Infiray sensor like in xtherm t3s, photos and specs are fine for that price. Some American companies also use pictures from more expensive tools made not by them, Seek Thermal for example

I was curious about the actual InfiRay thermal cellphone cams, not other company's cellphone cams that happen to use InfiRay's VOx arrays. Here's the webpage for InfiRay's own thermal cellphone cams https://www.infiray.com/T2thermalcamera.html
They also make standalone thermal cams. I am not really curious about HTI's cams, as theirs do appear to be slightly more expensive for the same capabilities, compared to InfiRay's own thermal cams (even if HTI does use the same VOx arrays). Image quality also depends on signal amplifier and other components outside the VOx array, and these are very likely different between HTI and InfiRay. The slightly lower prices for InfiRay make me consider buying theirs. However, I would like to know the quality of the images taken with InfiRay thermal cams. I'm quite frankly not interested in the quality of images taken with HTI thermal cams.

Unless you have personal experience with the quality of the images captured by InfiRay's own cameras, so that you will be able to fulfill my request for this information, your post is not related to the information I'm actually requesting. Your response regarding HTI's image quality is off topic, because I am at this point only considering buying an InifiRay thermal camera, due to its slightly lower price (for me, price is the biggest factor, but if the image quality is completely crappy, I won't buy it even if it is cheap). That's why I would like to hear from anybody on this forum, who's actually used an InfiRay thermal camera. I would like to hear from such a person, what their assessment of the image quality of the device is.

[Ben321]

Anybody here have any experience with InfiRay brand thermal imaging cameras? Are they any good?

[Ben321]

I'm actually surprised that NOBODY here has tried a genuine InfiRay camera. Only 3 other responses, and only ONE of them is from someone other than myself, the poster of the thread. I thought that among the THOUSANDS of people here, nearly every thermal camera manufacturer has at least ONE camera in the hands of at least one person here. Yet nobody seems to have an InfiRay brand camera? What's up with that. This thread has over THREE HUNDRED views, but only 3 replies (before this one), and of those 3 replies, only one was posted by someone other than myself. And that wasn't even a helpful post, because it was from somebody who used a camera that contained an InfiRay sensor, but itself was not made by InfiRay. Instead it was made by HTI, which of course use completely different electronics surrounding the LWIR sensor, thus invalidating that person's post as any kind of helpful post. With any camera, the image sensor is only half of what determines the camera's quality. The other half of the quality is in the support electronics such as amplifier and analog to digital converter (and not just the ICs, but also the surrounding analog components like capacitors and resistors, and them being the correct value components for best quality image).

So as of now, I still have no answer to the question that this post is trying to answer. And that question is simply HOW GOOD IS THE QUALITY OF THE INFIRAY THERMAL CAMERAS? Seriously, has like NOBODY who posts on these forums actually use InfiRay an InfiRay thermal camera? Is that why nobody has actually posted a review of its quality? Seriously, if nobody here has, you SHOULD HAVE. I need somebody out there I can depend on to review equipment that I might consider buying in the future.

[Fraser]

Ben321,

You never cease to make me smile with your posts 

InfiRay are one of the larger producers of thermal imaging microbolometers and cores in China. They produce a good product and we will likely see more owners of their cores and cameras over the coming months. They have produced some very capable new imaging cores that wipe the floor with the FLIR Lepton and Seek Thermal cores 

I have the Infiray S0 core that is used in the T2L camera dongle (it is just an S0 with a casing around it and USB connector).

https://www.infiray.com/T2Lthermalcamera.html

The images coming out of this core are very good considering its resolution. I have also found the measurement accuracy to be very good and better than the stated specifcation. The core provides 25fps image refresh so catches fast events and fast moving objects well. The image has so little noise in it for a 12um microbolometer that it is clealy using decent noise processing within the core and/or host software. Such image processing can reduce the sharpness of the imaging and I suspect that there is some loss of fine detail as a result. Image lag is present but not too bad. The T2L temperature range is limited but a higher temerature range is possible.

https://es.aliexpress.com/item/1005002288616285.html

So to sum up, yes I own an Infiray imaging core that is the same as the T2L hardware. Yes I am impressed with the imaging performance from this 12um pixel core. I am used to seeing far noisier images from budget 12um cores. IRay are major players in the current thermal imaging OEM supplier marketplace and development has moved at a pace during the current Pandemic.

For information, modern compact microbolometer modules contain the Microbolometer array, ROIC, A to D converter and clock generators. The microbolometer is relatively easy to integrate into a camera but, as you state, the quality of suppport electronics, such as power supplies, and host software does vary.

Fraser

[Fraser]

The Infiray S0 Core

It looks a little bit like the Seek Thermal J3/MOSAIC cores and I suspect that this is no coincidence. The S0 could easily be used in place of the Seek MOSAIC in camera designs. The S0 is manual focus as well, which can be an advantage. The S0 just needs power (5V) and a data connection to a USB port to become the image aquisition side of a Dongle + Computer hybrid solution.

[jumpy9734]

I got a P2 yesterday, it's really tiny (9 grams), it uses type C USB, has a high FOV, it's got a 256x192 resolution and 25hz, pretty good deal for 280$.

Here's a few samples with footage i've made today (i used compressed gifs which adds a bit of noise).

[Fraser]

P2 information page……

https://www.infiray.com/P2.html

I believe it uses the Tiny1 core. Compared to the S0 you gain a very small imaging core but lose manual focus capability.

https://www.infiray.com/tiny1thermalmodule.html

The Tiny1 and S0 cores will be in a lot of future Asia sourced thermal imaging cameras 

[ArsenioDev]

WHOA. That P2 is INCREDIBLY impressive. Dunks the HELL out of any of the lepton variants(even the unlocked ones)

[Fraser]

Asia based thermal camera manufacturers have, until recently, had limited choice when it comes to a decent, small, relatively inexpensive imaging core. With the Tiny1 and S0 cores they now have a domestic range of imaging cores to use. These offer very nice imaging at high frame rates  My experience of helping a China based camera manufacturer was that they badly needed such a core.
Using Seek Thermal cores from the USA, as they did, involved red tape (USA Export regulations) plus the significant issue of a language barrier between the Seek Thermal support team and the Chinese camera designers trying to integrate the US made core into their products.

The future looks bright for affordable high frame rate thermal imaging devices  The supporting software just needs to be of equal quality to the core hardware.

Fraser

[Fraser]

Guide are offering a miniature imaging core as well. Their TIMO core is limited to a lower resolution (120 x 90 pixels) so is not in the same league as the Tiny1 and S0 cores. Still useful in some applications though.

https://www.guideir.com/product/detail/id/66.html

[edubz]

I got a P2 yesterday, it's really tiny (9 grams), it uses type C USB, has a high FOV, it's got a 256x192 resolution and 25hz, pretty good deal for 280$.

Here's a few samples with footage i've made today (i used compressed gifs which adds a bit of noise).

where did you get the camera? I just bought a seek compact pro and the USB connection thing broke so I am going to send it back to amazon.

I cant seem to find this p2 for sale anywhere, it looks better then the seek compact pro quality wise.

[Fraser]

Do consider the T2L as well as the P2. The advantages of a camera with manual focus should not be underestimated. This is especially so if thinking of using the camera for close-up work of any sort.

https://youtu.be/z8ls2FMmSe0

The T2L is on offer until the 31st July here…..

https://m.banggood.com/InfiRay-T2L-Thermal-Imager-256192-Camera-Infrared-Thermometer-Imager-Industrial-Detection-Imaging-Camera-for-Mobile-Phone-Android-p-1865056.html

T2L is also available here with an 10% discount voucher when I looked at it…….

https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/InfiRay-T2L-Professional-cell-Phone-pocket_1600096057094.html

T2L from Aliexpress…..

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002288616285.html

[Fraser]

P2 sources…..

https://www.aliexpress.com/i/1005002395381459.html

https://m.banggood.com/InfiRay-P2-Thermal-Imager-IR-Sensor-Resolution-256+192-Mobile-Phone-Infrared-Thermal-Imager-CameraThermal-Leak-Diagnosis-Thermal-Sensor-Thermometer-p-1864876.html?akmClientCountry=GB&

[jumpy9734]

where did you get the camera? I just bought a seek compact pro and the USB connection thing broke so I am going to send it back to amazon.

I cant seem to find this p2 for sale anywhere, it looks better then the seek compact pro quality wise.

I bought it from aliexpress (searching "P2 thermal" will give a bunch of results).

I liked the higher FOV on the P2, as for manual focus it's a handy feature indeed, and while the P2 doesn't have it i don't plan on doing any close-ups soon but if i'll ever need to, i'll just throw in a cheap znse macro lens in front of the camera 

[Fraser]

 

[edubz]

where did you get the camera? I just bought a seek compact pro and the USB connection thing broke so I am going to send it back to amazon.

I cant seem to find this p2 for sale anywhere, it looks better then the seek compact pro quality wise.

I bought it from aliexpress (searching "P2 thermal" will give a bunch of results).

I liked the higher FOV on the P2, as for manual focus it's a handy feature indeed, and while the P2 doesn't have it i don't plan on doing any close-ups soon but if i'll ever need to, i'll just throw in a cheap znse macro lens in front of the camera 

where can I find more infiray products to buy? their web site doesnt have a place to buy most of their stuff

[Ben321]

Where can I actually buy Infiray products (or at least find their prices)? Infiray doesn't post prices on their website, and while I can find a number of their cameras for sale on other websites (along with prices) I don't see all of their cores for sale, some of the bigger/better cores can't be found on any other website (only the information page on the Infiray site itself) so their prices (and my ability to even buy one) remain missing as of now. I actually contacted them a while ago (I think it was either email or via an online contact form) with a request for a full price list of all of their thermal imaging products, and they NEVER REPLIED.

[zoltan]

Sorry for bringing this post from dead,

If anyone is interested, InfiRay is making a promo, I just bought the T2L with "handle" for 290 free UPS shipping.
The trick is that you have to find a specific youtuber reviewing the cameras, then join his discord channel and then ask for the promo code.

Not simple procedure, but it works.

[Dominik]

f anyone is interested, InfiRay is making a promo, I just bought the T2L with "handle" for 290 free UPS shipping.
The trick is that you have to find a specific youtuber reviewing the cameras, then join his discord channel and then ask for the promo code.

Did you order from banggood or aliexpress with promo code?

[thermalengineer]

I found this brand regards T2 Pro as thermal monocular things. They said it dont focus well when you want to inspect electronics, this camera is not designed for macro.  if you need to do electronics inspection, maybe you need the T2L or T2S+, both hardware and software of those two are impressive. 

[DaneLaw]

I found this brand regards T2 Pro as thermal monocular things. They said it dont focus well when you want to inspect electronics, this camera is not designed for macro.  if you need to do electronics inspection, maybe you need the T2L or T2S+, both hardware and software of those two are impressive. 

Which specific-Android software from Infiray for these models your mentioning, are you claiming is so impressive?
The ones I have seen from Infiray to most of the T2 series and T3 series have been rubbish and make me wonder, - what else have you tried if you truly believe that "Infiray software for those two" is "impressive software".

- And you keep pushing this loyal tin-soldier narrative to everybody asking, "that these Infiray T2-series are so good for PCB repairs, and its exactly what they are intended for."
Have you actually tried them for PCB repairs?? since you keep claiming they are ideal for that purpose.?

Let me give you an example..
On PCB repairs you often encounter a big contrast between hot parts versus ambient-tempered parts.
fx certain parts on PCBs can be like +100 degrees and also higher & vice versa - and in such tasks, these T2-series & T3series Infiray products got quite a problem in their native app - as you lack the temperature span-control, so things will often be blown out according to the highest temp.

Crude example with an Air-Fryer and the Infiray-app..to show that the moment it senses something hot, (and slave the span to that variable) - the surroundings will be undermined, while often losing all sense of temperature grading in the hot parts. (that's not good and definitely not ideal for PCB repairs)

On fx Seek Pro's app.. you are able to grade the temperature variable, so you can obtain a lot of details in a given temperature-span of interest, and that is quite important when you're dealing with PCB-repairs where you often encounter big temperature contrast between hot and cold areas and perhaps wanna sense thermal flow on secondary parts of the board.
,

- Infiray's app software.. are not good or "impressive", its sadly the weakest part of the chain.. that's a shame' as the hardware ls quite decent.

[Ben321]

Does Infiray have any online store to buy their stuff?

[schacht08]

Hello Ben321,

https://de.aliexpress.com/store/911200160?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.11c8109bvXSosG