For those readers interested in hardware improvement of the E4 I thought I would share some pictures of auxilliary lenses that I purchased for my FLIR PM695. These lenses also work with the E4. All require a suitable mounting to be created to support them as the E4 does not have an official auxilliary lens option or mount.
All of these lenses were purchased as used but serviceable on e*ay, and all cost a very small fraction of the original FLIR price
The pictures show the following lenses (from left to right in group pictures):
The FLIR X0.5 wide angle lens doubles the field of view for situations where there is no option to move further away from a target. On the PM695 this provides a 48 Degree FOV, whilst on the E4 it produces around a 90 Degree FOV
The Inframetrics X3 Telescopes, that I have previously mentioned in this thread, present me with the possibility of relatively long range wildlife observation. These lenses invert the image by design, so I will need to insert another lens between them and the camera. At present the E4 works with it but there is a little vignetting due to the wide FOV of the E4 lens. These Telescopes produce an excellent, if inverted, image on the PM695 camera though. My Inframetrics 6" close-up lens (not shown) is designed to attach to the front of this telescope in order to provide a microscope function for electronics inspection
Finally, my most recent purchase, the FLIR compact X2 telescope. I have been hunting for this lens for some time, but it is in high demand and commands significant sums of money on the used marketplace. This one cost me GBP260 (which is VERY cheap for this lens) and arrived today. Its a real beauty
Unblemished optics and just look at the size of the Objective lens ! That baby is 100mm across and a pretty large lump of optical grade Germanium
The lens design enables the telescope to be very short in length, as can be seen when compared to a conventional refractor type telescope, like the X3 Inframetrics. It isn't a light weight though, at around a 0.7kg of Gemanium and Aluminium. The length is only 45mm and, from memory, the lenses are of complex design to achieve X2 magnification without loss of optical performance or geometry. I have seen similar designs for camcorder use, but this is an impressive thermal camera lens and the diameters of the lenses show it to be a pretty fast, so great for wildlife work. I do not know the exact retail price on the lens when new, but it was several thousand Dollars
Enjoy the pictures..... and just look at the curvature on the X2 telescope objective......yes it really is that convex !
So, for anyone wanting to change their thermal cameras field of view, you need to consider the following.....
1. Only buy lenses that are capable of working at the Long Wavelengths that the E4 uses.
2. Auxilliary (add-on) lenses are designed to sit in front of the cameras built in lens.... these are the ones to look for as the optics should work with the E4 in most cases.
3. I recommend that you avoid unknown lenses that were part of a thermal camera optical block. They are unlikely to mate with the E4 without additional optics and even then the FOV may not be what you are after. These lenses are often designed to illuminate a Microbolometer FPA, or to form only part of a lens assembly that needs a lens that remains mounted on the camera. In short ... avoid !
4. The E4 has a relatively wide field of view so some lenses may produce a decent image but may also suffer vignetting if they were designed for a camera with a smaller FOV of say 24 Degress. In my case the FLIR lenses were designed for the 24 Degree lens on my PM695, but work fine with the E4. You do take a risk when buying without testing though.
5. Do not expect to find thermal camera lenses at bargain prices (sub $100). You can get the odd bargain now and then if you are not too fussy on an exact spec, and only want the lens elements, but auxilliary lenses tend to sell for decent money. Even the scrap value of the lenses contained within them is high. Big lumps of Germanium optics usually means $$$$
6. As I found out with teh Inframetrics Telescopes....some lenses are designed to produce an inverted image !
Happy hunting
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