Flir E4 Thermal imaging camera teardown

[G0HZU]

The tool I printed is made of PLA - it is not a particular 'hard' plastic, so should be quite safe to use.

I'll find out soon enough 

cheers,
george.

That should be OK then

I have a question: Will you be able to see the alignment of the tool into the keyholes with your tool? You may find you have to fit it by feel.

I've kind of given up on the look thru focus tool after having played with the one I made here. It was simply too much hassle to rotate 'and' keep it in the key holes. I initially assumed this would be easy to do but having tried it I've changed my mind. The tendency is to fish for a refit once it pops out and this is what scratched my lens holder very quickly. I only used it a few times before giving up.

I think the best solution will be something metal that fits in permanently and can somehow allow a focus wheel to click into it. I'm hoping someone, somewhere designs something like this for the Ex cameras because I won't be able to do it and this camera really does need a decent manual focus capability.

[Loafdude]

In case anyone is looking for E4's, I just bought one from ShopFlir.com.  They do not have any stock in the USA, but they do have stock in Canada (11 at the time I talked to Grant over there).

Anyone know if flirshop Canada can ship the E4 direct international?
One would think being in Canada they're not exporting through US customs?

Thats not how customs works.
They ship it direct and clear it on your behalf while in customs.
Customs does not get shipped the package then reship it to you

There may be import duties due when it arrives though.

[Corporate666]

In case anyone is looking for E4's, I just bought one from ShopFlir.com.  They do not have any stock in the USA, but they do have stock in Canada (11 at the time I talked to Grant over there).

Anyone know if flirshop Canada can ship the E4 direct?
One would think being in Canada they're not exporting through US customs?

I had emailed back and forth with a guy named Grant, his email is grantm - at - optimumenergy - dot - com if anyone wants to find out. 

[Loafdude]

That should be OK then

Have you guys watched mike's second video?

The ZnSe lense worked very well.
I think I'll just get a 50mm one and make a small spring loaded jig like he did.

[Corporate666]

Thats not how customs works.
They ship it direct and clear it on your behalf while in customs.
Customs does not get shipped the package then reship it to you

There may be import duties due when it arrives though.

I think he's talking about whether customers in other countries (like Oz) would be shipping out of Canada or out of the USA.

I presume Canada, if they sell outside North America.

[Loafdude]

I purchased from Chris there. He was very helpful!
I believe they have warehouses in both countries

[G0HZU]

Have you guys watched mike's second video?

Yes, I watched it and it does look to be a good option. But when I was using the look thru focus tool I could see the advantage of being able to manually focus at various closeup distances because that way you can make the best use of the limited resolution of the camera. eg I want to be able to accurately focus at 5cm thru 50cm in order to look at a whole large PCB or just look at a few SMD components in detail.

But I agree that a simple compromise of fixed (factory) focus and a $20 lens that allows focus at 150mm is probably going to be a good option for a lot of users.

[Loafdude]

After playing with this for a couple hours it would be nice to move temp lock/unlock to the dpad
might give it a whirl a bit later

[Psi]

Thats not how customs works.
They ship it direct and clear it on your behalf while in customs.

Nope, Flir have a warehouse in Canada and ship some items from there.

I purchased from Chris there. He was very helpful!
I believe they have warehouses in both countries

Yep, their Canada warehouse has E4 stock.
If they shipped a E4 from Canada to NZ/AUS it wouldn't pass through USA customs at all.

But.. being a US company, Flir may still not allow that as part of their company policy.

That's what i was wondering about.

[edavid]

In case anyone is looking for E4's, I just bought one from ShopFlir.com.  They do not have any stock in the USA, but they do have stock in Canada (11 at the time I talked to Grant over there).

Anyone know if flirshop Canada can ship the E4 direct international?
One would think being in Canada they're not exporting through US customs?

The answer is right on their website:

Note that not all of the products we sell are available for Export Sale. The products NOT available for export include:
    All Fluke Electronics products
    All Thermography (Infrared camera) products
    Other products as designated by our Suppliers or Optimum Energy Products Ltd.

[olsenn]

If you lived in Canada like me you wouldn't have that problem

[Loafdude]

I am willing to forward with no fee
I know I dont have much of a rep here tho

I can DHL international it to whoever wants one
my shipping time from their warehouse in montreal is ~4 - 5 days

[Psi]

If you lived in Canada like me you wouldn't have that problem

I would have other problems, like moose attacks

[olsenn]

    If you lived in Canada like me you wouldn't have that problem

I would have other problems, like moose attacks

Don't play on racial stereotypes! I've only been attacked by a moose once, and it wasn't even a large one

[Psi]

Don't play on racial stereotypes! I've only been attacked by a moose once

lol

[Taucher]

@TNT  - Any ideas on this:?
rls .image.flow.framebuffer.frameSum
frameSum          9.2842221e+008

rset: not supported



Some generally nice places to look at:

Set LCD Backlight 0=off, 1...100%:
rset .power.settings.trueBacklight 10

Default filename scheme for stored images:
.services.store.template                   Default: "DCF"
["SEQ" "SEQ_INC" "DIR+SEQ" "DATE+SEQ" "PREFIX_SEQ" "DCF"]

What gets stored when saving an image:
.image.services.store.format
Default: JPEG_fusion+JPG
Allowed: FFF, FFF+PNG, FFF+JLS, FFF_no_pixels, FFF_seq, FFF_append, FFF_visual, FFF_visual+PNG, JPEG, JPEG+PNG, JPEG_no_IR, JPEG_no_pixels, JPEG_visual, JPEG_visual_small, JPEG_fusion, JPEG_fusion+PNG, JPEG_fusion+JPG, JPEG_fusion_large, IR+visual_combo, fusion+visual_combo, fusion+large_combo, PNG_no_IR, AFF

Jpeg compression level:
.image.services.store.quality                       85

Time/Date settings
.system.time.day   [1, 31]
.system.time.hour  [0, 23]
.system.time.min   [0, 59]
.system.time.month [1, 12]
.system.time.sec   [0, 59]
.system.time.tz    [-12, 13]
.system.time.year  [2000, 2099]

Something for menu debugging:
rset .ui.settings.debugQML 1
rset .ui.settings.fontAntialiasing 0
rset .ui.settings.qmlReloadOnF8 true

Check battery voltage in mV:
rls .power.values.voltage

[olsenn]

Out of curiosity, is the E4/E8 work well for night vision?

[scibit]

why don't you cancel and order somewhere else where they have stock?

That sounds like a good idea. If I can find somewhere that still has stock.
Might have to phone around.

You can still order somewhere else where it is on stock. Just wait to cancel the other order until you received your unit. With the current ship date you've been told you have plenty of time.

Just got off the phone with Ivy Tools. They had one in stock that they'd put aside for me, and said if I ordered now they'd ship it first thing on Monday.
Ended up being a little more expensive, but in the end I'd call it a win 

So it turns out that Ivy Tools don't actually have any stock, even after telling me they did. ETA 22/11/13
Tried placing an order at shopFLIR who claimed to have 2 in stock, got an email saying they won't have any until the 22nd either.

I'm just about ready to give up.

[Taucher]

Out of curiosity, is the E4/E8 work well for night vision?

short: yes
long: depends on what type of night vision you require - actually it's "all time vision" in the spectral region around 10µm wavelength - with all limitations and benefits of that infrared region.

Hint: get yourself some educational material - like Dave's review (he walked around his garden with the camera at night) or one of the other numerous videos online. Even the Flir manual will give you great information on the whole subject of blackbody radiation, imaging etc... and if you don't know what blackbody radiation is - even on that

[kjk24]

Hello,

thank you , the lenstool fits perfect onto the lens.
all the best

[Taucher]

Hello,

thank you , the lenstool fits perfect onto the lens.
all the best

Thanks - glad to hear that
Backlink to STL:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/flir-e4-thermal-imaging-camera-teardown/msg328518/#msg328518

[Corporate666]

So it turns out that Ivy Tools don't actually have any stock, even after telling me they did. ETA 22/11/13
Tried placing an order at shopFLIR who claimed to have 2 in stock, got an email saying they won't have any until the 22nd either.

I'm just about ready to give up.

Check out my previous post - ShopFlir will ship from their Canada warehouse for $50, but will also price match.  I had been quoted $895 from Valuetesters, so even with the extra $50 for shipping, it was still less than MSRP, and it is shipping in the morning.

[scibit]

So it turns out that Ivy Tools don't actually have any stock, even after telling me they did. ETA 22/11/13
Tried placing an order at shopFLIR who claimed to have 2 in stock, got an email saying they won't have any until the 22nd either.

I'm just about ready to give up.

Check out my previous post - ShopFlir will ship from their Canada warehouse for $50, but will also price match.  I had been quoted $895 from Valuetesters, so even with the extra $50 for shipping, it was still less than MSRP, and it is shipping in the morning.

I've sent them an email asking why the delay and letting them know that I'd rather not wait around. Hopefully they'll give me that option.
I wasn't aware of the price matching. Though I'd still pay the $50 just to get from current stock.

[Corporate666]

So it turns out that Ivy Tools don't actually have any stock, even after telling me they did. ETA 22/11/13
Tried placing an order at shopFLIR who claimed to have 2 in stock, got an email saying they won't have any until the 22nd either.

I'm just about ready to give up.

Check out my previous post - ShopFlir will ship from their Canada warehouse for $50, but will also price match.  I had been quoted $895 from Valuetesters, so even with the extra $50 for shipping, it was still less than MSRP, and it is shipping in the morning.

I've sent them an email asking why the delay and letting them know that I'd rather not wait around. Hopefully they'll give me that option.
I wasn't aware of the price matching. Though I'd still pay the $50 just to get from current stock.

The problem with waiting is that it's rumored there is a new version of the firmware being loaded onto new E4's that will render them unhackable (by the current method at a minimum). 

I talked to a few suppliers who all mentioned they generally get shipments weekly - but nobody is getting any more shipments for 3 weeks... which makes it sound to me like FLIR stopped shipping E4's to their dealers.  And I would guess it's because they are rolling out an updated firmware.

I might be wrong on that, and even if they do roll out a new FW, it may end up being hackable as well, but I didn't want to take the chance, certainly not over $50.  The price match was just an added plus.

[max-bit]

Gentlemen, it is best to make a list of stores with the date of purchase and software versions
Then it will be all clear
That I'll start:
EU (Europe)
Elfa (Sweden) - Delivery planned - 19-NOV-2013 ver soft?
Farnell - product not available
RS Components  - product not available
USA
Mouser - No stock Delivery planned 3 weeks ?
DigiKey - product not available