REVIEW - INFIRAY P2 PRO thermal camera dongle for Android mobile phones

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UPDATE April 2024 - If considering buying an Infiray P2 Pro please read the following thread on Version 2 cores and do your own research !

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/thermal-imaging/infiray-v2-cameras-not-as-good-as-v1-models/

Infiray are releasing new versions of their cameras and some appear to be exhibiting performance issues ! My review applies only to the P2Pro V3 of May 2022.

Fraser

Infiray P2 Pro Thermal Camera Dongle
User Review November/December 2022

Camera Firmware Version 3.04.09.01

Software App Version 1.0.6.221206

Full Disclosure:

The author of this review received a sample P2 Pro camera from Infiray free of charge for the purposes of this review. The review is honest and unbiased with no editorial oversight by Infiray. The author has no business or personal interest in the sale of the P2 Pro camera, or any other Infiray products.




Introduction:

The Infiray P2 thermal imaging camera was first introduced to the marketplace in 202x and is of the Mobile Phone accessory Camera Dongle format. Such dongle format cameras have become popular in recent years as the miniaturised thermal imaging core technology and associated host Mobile Phones have become more capable.

The diminutive P2 camera dongle was well received by the market so Infiray released the P2 PRO model that includes a detachable close-up lens for macro imaging activities. With the attachment of the close-up lens, the P2 enhances its PCB analysis capabilities to cope with the modern miniature SMT components.


Summary:

The Infiray P2 PRO thermal imaging camera dongle is a well crafted solution suited to general thermal imaging as well as more specialised electronics, R&D, automotive and other repair activities requiring temperature measurement or imaging. The build quality of the camera is excellent, with a cast aluminium casing, strong USB C connector and integrated large lens protection window. Within its well made casing resides a very capable miniaturised thermal imaging core of which Infiray may rightly be proud.

The Infiray P2 PRO is not perfect as some compromises are unavoidable when creating such a compact thermal imaging solution. That said, the author has no hesitation in recommending this camera to those users who desire a good value for money, very capable, fixed focus miniature thermal imaging accessory for their mobile phone. The likes of FLIR and SEEK Thermal should rightly be concerned about what the P2 Pro offers the marketplace compared to their Thermal camera Dongle offerings.

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Infiray P2 Pro camera description:


The Infiray P2 Pro is an exercise in the miniaturisation of thermal imaging technology that is designed to meet the needs of users who wish to add a thermal imaging capability to their mobile phone. Using a mobile phone Host reduces the BoM for the camera and leverages the significant processing power, combined with display quality, found in modern mobile phones.

The case of the P2 PRO is aluminium, providing a feel of quality to the user. A USB Type C male connector is securely anchored into the top of the cameras case. The camera is devoid of buttons or indicators and the only other feature to note is the large (oversize) LWIR transparent window on the front of the camera. This window provides not only protection of the camera lens that lies behind, but also dust and fluid ingress protection. The camera is not rated as waterproof but having a sealed window instead of an exposed imaging core lens is excellent.

The P2 PRO model provides the user with an expanded temperature measurement capability up to +550C and the option to attach a well designed close-up (Macro) lens for detailed examination of objects. The close-up lens assembly is shaped to match the front casing of the P2 and is retained in place using a magnet. This is an ingenious design that works well. The Close-up lens is easily attached and removed without drama. The focus distance of the close-up lens is 25mm. The material from which the close-up lens is made is Chalcogenide IR glass with an AR coating for LWIR.

The thermal imaging core within the P2 PRO is from the new Infiray Tiny1 series that offer integrators several Host interface options, including USB. The core contains the lens, microbolometer, housekeeping electronics and USB interface. The Host system handles the more demanding processing, measurement and display tasks. Camera connectivity to the Host mobile phone is via USB C connector but USB 2.0 is available via the attachment of suitable OTG connector adapters.

The image collection, processing and analysis software is installed on a standard Android mobile phone. The P2 PRO software provides the user with the required imagery and image analysis functions without the need for a larger computer, such as a PC. The author has tested several generations of Samsung phone going back as far as the Circa 2014 Samsung Galaxy S5 and all worked correctly with the software and camera. Note that USB adapters will be needed for phones not equipped with a USB-Type C interface.

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P2 PRO Specifications:


Imaging Core: Infiray Tiny1
Resolution: 256 x 192 Pixels
Pixel Size: 12um
Frame Rate: 25fps
Field of view: 56.0°x 42.2°
NETD: <50mK @25C with F1.0 Lens
Focus Distance (Fixed lens): ~200mm to Infinity
Focus Distance (with close-up lens): 25mm
Measurement Temperature range: -10C to +550C in two ranges
Measurement accuracy: +/- 2C or +/- 2% whichever is greater
Span and Level adjustment : Automatic (Brightness and Contrast controls are included)
Interface to Host: USB C with USB 2.0 data compatibility
Operating Systems Supported: Android only
SDK availability: A Tiny1 series core SDK is available

Current Draw:

Measured current consumption from the Host mobile phone: 60mA with short duration increases to 160mA during an FFC event
Note that the Samsung phone continued to supply power even when the APP was not running and the P2 Pro continued to draw 60mA

See attached images for detail of the test and current draw measurements. Due to the limited mA resolution of the UNI-T USB tester, the current draw could be slightly more than indicated.

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Unboxing:

The Infiray P2 Pro system is delivered in two very neat cardboard boxes that ooze quality with their patterned semi matt black finish and gold embossed writing. The larger of the two boxes contains the P2 Pro camera whilst the smaller box contains the P2 PRO Close-up lens.

Upon opening the P2 Pro camera box the user is presented with a very neat packaging solution reminiscent of a mobile phone packaging. It is suspected that this is not a coincidence. A removable card envelope sits on top of the P2 Pro camera that is safely protected in a velvet covered foam insert. The envelope contains the documentation and a small gold embossed Infiray leatherette bag for the cameras protection whilst mobile. Adjacent to the camera foam insert there is a card box that contains a USB Type C extension cable. This was nice to see as it could be considered a luxury for a camera dongle intended to mount directly on the mobile phone.
To remove the P2 Pro camera from its cosy protective foam, a neat piece of ribbon is provided. a gentle pull on the ribbon lifts the camera dongle from its resting place. A nice touch by Infiray

Moving on to the smaller of the two Infiray boxes now, we find understandable similarities to the camera box. On the outside of the black box there is gold embossed writing announcing that it contains a "P2 PRO Micro Teleconvertor". Upon opening the box the user is presented with a similar velvet covered foam insert as that used for the camera dongle, but this one contains the Close-up lens assembly. The same ribbon lifting system is employed to ease extraction of the device from the foam insert tat surrounds it. There is no documentation in this box which is a pity. It would have been nice to see a simple specification sheet detailing the transmission and focus distance details for the close-up lens.

Based upon the quality of the transit boxes used for the P2 Pro a user may understandably be of the impression that Infiray are a company that produces a quality product. This is excellent as they would be correct in that belief. The Infiray packaging team have done an excellent job on this products packaging.

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Who are Infiray ?

This seems like a good point at which to talk about Infiray as a manufacturer of thermal imaging devices. Their name and reputation may not be that familiar to some readers so lets sort that out here and now

Understanding who Infiray actually are can be a little confusing as the name IRAY or Yantai IRAY may be seen associated with them. IRAY Technology Co Ltd is a high tech enterprise that develops and manufactures Infrared FPA's, thermal imaging modules and other thermal imaging related products. If statements by IRAY Technology are to be believed, over half of their workforce is dedicated to R&D activities. IRAY have developed their own MEMS technology microbolometer FPA's for use in thermal imaging applications. so we are talking about a company that is focussed on the development of thermal imaging sensors, cores and products using in-house design and fabrication without having to buy-in the microbolometers from other parties such as Lynred (was ULIS). This is a significant step in Chinese thermal imaging system manufacture. So now we know a little about IRAY Technology....... well INFIRAY are part of Yantai IRAY Technology so you have a company that not only designs and builds the sophisticated sensor arrays, it also builds imaging cores and complete thermal camera solutions that include the product ranges marketed under the Infiray brand. This is a strong position from which to market thermal imaging systems as Yantai IRAY Technology understand how to get the best from their products. Just to complicate matters further, Infiray and IRAY Technology are both owned by RAYTRON Technology Co Ltd.

For our needs it is only necessary to appreciate that Infiray and IRAY Technology are strong players in the Chinese thermal imaging sensor, core and complete camera product markets. The onslaught of the World CoronaVirus Pandemic brought with it a desire by the Chinese Government to develop their own thermal imaging sensors and systems for Fever screening purposes. Without going into too much detail here, all manufacturers of thermal imaging technology were ordered to focus their R&D efforts upon creating better microbolometers and complete thermal cameras systems. The result of this was the much improved Chinese made thermal imaging technology that we are now seeing in the marketplace. Historically, China was somewhat limited to buying in ULIS (Lynred) microbolometers, FLIR Leptons and SEEK Thermal MOSAIC cores for their consumer thermal camera designs. That all changed in the last 3 years. Chinese companies are now able to produce microbolometers, imaging cores and complete camera systems using domestic parts that out perform the FLIR and SEEK Thermal offerings. We live in interesting times !   

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P2 PRO Initial setup:

The P2 Pro camera is a mobile phone dongle format device that is intended to operate with a Android mobile phone host. As such the user will need a suitable mobile phone to use the camera dongle. Having said that, it may well be possible to use the P2 Pro with a PC if suitable host software were sourced. Such is beyond the scope of this review however.

The mobile phone needs to be running the Infiray Host system APP named "P2 PRO" in order to communicate with the dongle camera. The APP may be downloaded from the Google Play store. Once installed, the APP may be run and it will display an animation asking the user to insert the P2 Pro camera into the USB port. Once the P2 Pro camera dongle is inserted into the USB port, the APP will request the required access permissions to be granted.
Once the initial setup phase is completed, a thermal image should appear on the mobile phones display. The camera and phone are now working in a symbiotic relationship with the camera receiving power and commands from the host phone and the P2 PRO APP receiving the USB data stream that is required to create the thermal image on the phones display.

The P2 PRO camera uses a Flat Field Correction (FFC) flag to maintain the image quality and also to self calibrate the temperature measurement function. A small click will be heard coming from the camera dongle every couple of minutes after an initial flurry of activity as the microbolometer warms up.

The P2 Pro and its associated software APP area now ready for use.

In order to attach the close-up (Macro) lens, the user has only to correctly orientate it to match the shape of the P2 Pro camera and then let the magnetic retention system pull the close-up assembly securely onto the face of the camera. Removal is just a case of pulling the close-up lens assembly away from the camera body.

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P2 PRO Application Software for Android

As many readers will already know, a hardware /software hybrid solution can stand or fall depending upon the quality of the parts. If the hardware is excellent quality, yet the software is severely wanting in terms of performance, the product can fail. Sadly it is sometimes the case that software is almost an afterthought in product development and starved of resources. It was good to see that this is not the case with the P2PRO APP but no software is perfect and there will always be a need to fix bugs or improve capabilities during the products life. The author found the P2 PRO APP to be simple to install and use with few issues found during the testing phase of this review. Any issues found will be detailed here for Infiray to consider for remedial action.

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The P2 PRO Software Application 'Desktop layout'

Upon starting the P2 PRO APP and connecting the P2 PRO camera, the user is presented with an uncomplicated 'desktop' that is essential when working with limited display real estate. Basic functionality is easily accessed and there is the option to use a "PRO" mode that adds several measurement functions to the home display. For casual thermal imaging and temperature measurement, the basic display is more than adequate.

In the top left of the display a "Gearwheel" icon provides access to the system configuration menu to set things like Basic/Pro mode, Image optimisation, FFC shutter behaviour etc. It is also the location to find the integrated User manual. On the right of the display there is a half obscured menu icon that provides access to various image associated menus for use whilst imaging thermal scenes. These menus provide functions like Brightness/Contrast adjustment, Emissivity setting etc. 

The majority of the display is filled with the thermal image that the camera is producing. Cleary the size of the mobile phone display will influence the how large the displayed thermal image will be for the user. A Samsung S9 PLUS with its slightly larger AMOLED display was relatively easy to use and a Phablet may be even better in this application.

Below the thermal image display area, the user has a choice of layouts. In Basic operating mode, there is a gallery icon on the left to access the saved images, a Photo/Video button in the middle to capture still or moving images and on the right there is the Palette button to brig up a choice of different colour and monochrome palettes that may be applied to the thermal image. These buttons, in combination with the menu button to the right of the display are all that are needed for quick, simple thermal imaging. For more advanced measurement options, the "Pro" mode may be selected in the "Gearwheel" setup menu. This mode adds a number of measurement options to the Basic desktop. The additional icons sit in the area between the thermal display and the previously detailed user buttons for Gallery, Photo/Video and Palette. The positioning of these measurement function buttons is convenient and it is easy to add measurement points to the thermal scene.

Detail of how the Desktop menus are presented to the user ......
 

Gear wheel Setup menu

Professional Thermometry on/off
Advanced image setting
Temperature setting
General
Help


Advanced image setting:
Image optimize on/off
Video automatic shutter switch on/off
Continuous image capture on/off

Temperature setting
Temperature Unit  - Celsius/Fahrenheit/Kelvin
Temperature Alarm - High temp alarm on/off /  Alarm Value =
                               Low temp alarm on/off / Alarm Value = 

Burn Protection on/off

General
Language - System Dependent / Mandarin / English
Water Marker on/off

Help -
About us - About Infiray
Privacy - User Privacy Policy and Disclaimer
Help Document - P2 Pro User Manual
Feedback - After Sales contact for feedback
Version Info - Software version / Firmware version / SNcode

SW version: 1.0.6.221206
FW version: 3.04.09.01
SNcode: Pxxxxxxxxxxxxx



Side menu contents:

Image Flip
Variable Correction
Spot Temp Display
Mode
Image settings

Image flip - 0/90/180/270

Variable Correction - Emissivity - Various materials / Custom with click to edit / Ambient temp slider (-10C to 55C) Default 25C with default button  / Object distance slider (0.2m to 5.0m) Default 0.25m with default button.

Spot Temp display - on/off toggle of spot temperature measurements - centre, high, low

Mode - High Image quality / Wide range / Auto

Image settings - Brightness slider 0-256 (default 128) with default button / Contrast slider 0-256 (default 128) with default button.


Display desktop:

Top left - Gear wheel setup
Top far right - FFC initiate
Top right - PIP toggle with moveable window position

Bottom left - Gallery
Bottom middle - Photo/Video
Bottom right - Palette - White Hot / Iron Red / Rainbow 1/ Rainbow2 / Rainbow3 / Red Hot / Hot Iron / Black Hot

Below Photo button - Photo / Video selector


Professional mode additions at bottom of screen above Gallery/Photo/Palette

Measurement functions : Point / Line / Rectangle / Scale / Delete

Point temperature placed on scene P1 P2 P3 measurement at top left corner
Line on scene - Min,Max,Avg L1 L2 L3 temperature shown top left
Rectangle on scene - Min,Max,Avg R1 R2 R3 temperature shown top left
Scale - brings up a scale for ISOtemp mode lock at top, edit at bottom - press edit opens High and Low temp menu. each can be edited for ISOtemp.
Delete removes all added measurement points
Note: touching a measurement point removes it on its own

Desktop Rotation

A mobile phone may commonly be used in Portrait or Landscape display mode depending upon the activity. As such it is common for Applications to rotate their desktops to match the orientation of the Mobile Phone. In the case of the P2 Pro APP in this respect it does and it doesn't. In the Portrait orientation with the P2 Pro camera mounted at the bottom, the desktop is as described above. However when the Mobile Phone is rotated into Landscape orientation, things get a little confusing. The displayed measured temperatures are correctly rotated and the annotations on the user buttons also rotate. Nothing else on the desktop has rotation applied to it however. All menus remain orientated for portrait orientation. This is a pity as it makes use of the image setting menu less than optimal. See pictures for details. Infiray may wish to consider applying screen rotation to the menus in a future release.

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P2 PRO User experience


Upon first sight it was hard to believe that the P2 Pro could have anything more than very mediocre 'Toy' like performance. How could anything that small produce decent thermal images ? The author is pleased to advise that he was wrong in those first impressions of the device. It really is rather good

The Chinese thermal imaging microbolometer and core market has advanced in leaps and bounds over the past few years. The CoronaVirus Pandemic forced faster development of more affordable imaging cores that could still perform well. The P2 Pro is the perfect example of how the imaging cores have shrunk in size, yet are still able to produce accurate thermal measurements. The lens mounted on the camera will dictate how much detail in a scene may be resolved with 256 x 192 pixels but that specification is set by the manufacturer who is targeting a particular market segment. Personally I would prefer a 24 Degrees HFOV lens on such a camera, but the P2 Pro remains a very useable camera for general thermal imaging as well as close-up work. The P2 Pro is an enhancement of the already proven P2 camera. It has the benefit of greater temperature measurement capability combined with a supplementary close-up lens. The supplementary close-up (Macro) lens faciltates detailed thermal analysis of small objects, such as modern miniature electronic components on a PCB. The depth of field offered by the standard 56 degree HFOV lens is impressive. During testing it was determined that the P2 Pro was providing good focus from Infinity down to approximately 20cm. The close-up lens also exhibited a user friendly depth of field at its 25mm fixed focus distance.

The P2 Pro was put through its paces over a month of testing and familiarisation. The hardware worked well and did not exhibit any signs of instability or quality related issues. The design is both appealing to the eye and practical in many different deployments. Once mounted in the "Bostwickenator" designed tripod mount adapter the camera gained great versatility and the mounting options became almost limitless as detailed elsewhere in this review. It cannot be emphasised enough what an advantage it is for the thermal camera head to be so compact and rugged. This little camera punches well above its weight and offers much to the user and maker communities. The USB Type C male connector has proven to be very robust with no signs of flexing or fragility whilst in use. The "Bostwickenator" tripod adapter does assist in removing load from this connector by securing the camera by its rigid body and this can only be a good idea for the longevity of the USC Type-C connector if used in rough handling conditions.

The P2 Pro hardware is, of course, only part of the story. In order to produce a thermal imaging system using a dongle type thermal camera, it is necessary to provide a suitable host that provides the required processing power, communications and display resources. It is no surprise that Mobile Phones are the Host of choice. Modern models are equipped with powerful data processing capabilities and excellent quality display screens, all in a compact, self powered package, that can also provide power to the camera dongle. What is not to like ?  Well the author of this review is a self confessed non-fan of dongle type thermal imaging cameras that literally hang off of the Mobile Phone host by their USB connector. To date he has tested the FLIR ONE G2, G3 and Seek Thermal Classic thermal camera dongles. They did not impress !
The issue with dongle type thermal cameras can be the challenges of producing a camera with adequate imaging performance, in a small form factor and the practical use of the system in normal life. The P2 Pro has impressed the author with both its size and imaging performance. It is so small that adding it to a mobile phone does not make the phone bulky or cumbersome.

The Host runs software that converts the data coming out of the thermal camera dongle into imagery that the User may view and save. A product can stand or fall based upon the quality of the provided software. The P2 Pro APP installed on four Samsung mobile phone models (S5, A6, A8 & S9), and one Motorola Moto G5 phone,  without incident or difficulty. There does appear to be an issue with the camera not always being recognised by the software when plugged in, but this is easily resolved by deleting the APP from the phones history and re-attaching the camera. The APP will auto-start. Sadly the latest APP release has broken the Icon based start option as that reports "App not found". This is likely to be repaired very quickly though. In use the APP was stable and provided all of the features expected of such a piece of software running on a Mobile Phone platform. There are some oddities, such as the lack of menu rotation when the phone is used in the landscape mode and the saving of the 256 x 192 thermal images as 1440 x 1080 pixel up-scaled monster images. The saved images do appear inferior to the live images seen on the phones display. The camera and App also operate in an Auto Span and Level mode without the usual manual level and span options that can be useful. Thankfully the nature of Hardware/Software hybrid solutions means that such issues can be resolved in a new APP release.

Using the P2 Pro camera was both enjoyable and interesting. As a general use thermal camera, it performs well enough to provide good thermal insight into the environs surrounding the user. In a more directed use scenario, the excellent depth of field offered by the cameras lens enables well focussed imaging down to around 20cm without the need for a supplementary lens. For close-up inspection and analysis activities the P2 Pro supplementary close-up lens comes into its own. With a working distance of 25mm the close-up lens gives an excellent, well focussed, image of modern miniature SMT components on PCB's. The images produced were more than adequate for PCB thermal analysis. The combination of native close focus ability and a very nice supplemental close-up (Macro) lens means that the user may gain a good thermal overview of a large PCB and then add the Close-up lens to gain far greater detail of a specific area of interest. Attaching the P2 Pro camera to a simple, inexpensive microscope stand created a very capable PCB thermal analysis solution. Mounting the camera on an articulated arm created a very versatile bench thermography system for the observation of targets at greater distances than possible with the microscope stand.

Whilst a thermal camera solution may produce acceptable thermal images for general use, if it is to be used for temperature measurement, it needs to be a radiometric model with a design capable of providing accurate temperature measurements. The testing of the P2 Pro and associated APP proved the camera to be more than capable of accurate temperature measurements within its stated specification. Such a capability would be very useful for PCB thermal analysis and fault finding. The Emissivity and distance functions performed as expected and the camera passed the measurement accuracy tests. 

Radiometric thermal cameras can offer several different ways to measure temperatures in a scene…

Centre spot measurement
Hottest spot measurement
Coldest spot measurement
Hottest and Coldest spot measurement within a region of interest
Hottest and Coldest spot measurement along a defined line cutting through a thermal scene

The Region of Interest (ROI) may often be a circle, square, rectangle, triangle or trapezoid, depending upon the options the manufacturer wishes to provide.

The P2 Pro keeps matters simple by offering two modes of measurement. Basic mode provides a centre temperature measurement plus the highest and lowest temperature in the scene. Perfect for a quick measurement. For more advanced measurement options the Pro mode may be enabled. This provides user selectable and positionable spot, line and ROI measurement options. The ROI is limited to just a user positioned variable size rectangle but this is adequate for most tasks. It is this ROI function that was used during the Measurement accuracy test as it provided useful information on the emission plate and any thermal gradient across it, if present. The Line and ROI measurement options provide the Highest, Lowest and Average temperature measurements. The relevant points along the line, or within the ROI, are clearly shown with coloured dot markers. With the option to deploy 3 of each advanced measurement type, the user has plenty of multi point measurement capability if wishing to monitor several locations within a thermal scene. The plotting of a measurement point on a graphical display or the saving of the measurement point data in a file is not currently provided in the App but we can but hope such an option may be added as it can be invaluable in R&D applications.

After a month of testing, the author has transitioned from sceptic to believer in this new miniaturised thermal imaging technology. The Infiray Tiny1 thermal imaging core that resides within the P2 Pro's metal casing is far superior to the equivalent cores from FLIR and SEEK Thermal. This review sample will be staying in the authors lab as a very useful and highly portable thermal imaging tool.

My thanks to Infiray for providing the sample P2 Pro camera for this review.

Fraser

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Measurement Accuracy confidence test

A professional Blackbody was used to test the P2 PRO temperature measurement accuracy. The reference Blackbody uses a thermal emitter plate of known emissivity and temperature against which the P2 PRO measurement accuracy may be tested. With the P2 PRO having a broad temperature measurement capability of -10C to +550C it was necessary to use several Reference Blackbody units to provide a suitable measurement test for the camera. The following Blackbody units were used during these accuracy tests:

1. Dahua DH-TPC-HBB (Ambient +5C to +50C)
2. HIKVISION DS-2TE127-G4A (Ambient +5C to +50C)
3. Galai BB50 (-45C to + 100C)
4. Mikron 345X (0C to +170C)
5. Mikron 315X (+50C to +400C)


The results of the Accuracy testing are shown below in Precis .

Ambient Temperature: +13C
Humidity: 48%
Distance to Emission Plate: 0.25m (25cm)

Camera stabilisation period (warm-up time) in order to be ready for accurate measurements:

Minimum: TBA minutes (tested)
Recommended: 3 minutes (good practice)

Test Results

Real Temperature (C)     Measured Temperature (C)    Differential (C)    Error %

0                                     +0.2                                         +0.2
+10.0                              +10.2                                       +0.2                      2%
+20.0                              +20.0                                          0                        0%
+30.0                              +30.3                                       +0.3                      1%
+40.0                              +40.6                                       +0.6                      1.5%
+50.0                              +50.7                                       +0.7                      1.4%
+60.0                              +61.0                                       +1.0                      1.66%
+70.0                              +71.0                                       +1.0                      1.42%
+80.0                              +81.1                                       +1.1                      1.37%
+90.0                              +91.1                                       +1.1                      1.11%
+100.0                            +102.0                                     +2.0                       2.00%
+150.0                            +153.7                                     +3.7                       2.46%
+175.0                            +177.6                                     +2.6                       1.48%
+200.0                            +202.8                                     +2.8                       1.40%
+250.0                            +252.9                                     +2.9                       1.16%
+300.0                            +299.4                                     -0.6                        0.2%
+350.0                            +349.5                                     -0.5                        0.14%

I attach some sample images captured during the test. The temperature measurement includes Maximum, Minimum and Average temperature present in the ROI that I set. I have used the average reading to take account of any gradient across the emission plate. The Blackbody used for this test was the Thermoelectric Mikron M345X.

Update : The test at +150 Celsius was carried out whilst on the low range (high sensitivity range) and Infiray clearly state in the manual that a change to the upper range (High temperature range) is recommended at +120 Celsius. The camera is capable of measuring up to +170 Celsius in the high sensitivity range but I cannot, in good conscience include the 150 Celsius test result in this review in fairness to Infiray. The tests at +175 Celsius, and above, were made with the camera in the high temperature range so remains valid.

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Measurement Accuracy confidence test

Images captured of 100 Celcius to 350 Celcius using the higher temperature Mikron M315X Blackbody

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Automatic Temperature Range switching test

The P2 PRO uses two temperature ranges to achieve its wide temperature measurement capability.
The high sensitivity lower Range covers from -10 Celsius to 170 Celcius but -10 Celsius to 120 Celsius is recommended. The Lower sensitivity Upper Range covers from 120 Celsius to 550 Celsius. It should be noted that the lower sensitivity Upper Range still provides temperature measurement at temperatures below 120 Celsius, but the image contains more noise. The accuracy of Upper Range measurement below 120 Celsius was not tested as it falls outside the specification.

The P2 PRO APP offers the user manual selection of the temperature range or fully automatic switching. interestingly the high sensitivity lower range is the default selection and not the Auto ranging as might have been expected. As a result of this, it is possible to exceed the maximum temperature measurement limit of the Lower Range and a strange effect occurs that could confuse users unaware of why it occurs.

Users need to be aware that the ADC used in a thermal camera translates the analogue 'video' signal coming from the Microbolometer ROIC into a digital format that may be processed by the digital sections of the camera design. If the expected analogue input to the ADC exceeds that which is expected the ADC can go into an over range condition or the processor system connected to it can become 'confused'. In the case of the P2 PRO and its associated Android APP, the effect seen when the Lowe Range 170 Celsius upper limit is exceeded is almost like someone has sprinkled pepper on the scene ! The effect starts near to 170 Celsius with slight grain appearing in the image and as the temperature exceeds 170 Celsius a mass of black 'dots' appear in the scene. Whilst this unusual effect may look  strange, it is not a fault and the camera is not suffering damage.
 
If the P2 PRO APP is set to Auto ranging mode the APP commands the camera into the Upper Range mode at 120 Celsius, carries out a FFC calibration and presents the user with an excellent image that can be used for temperature measurements up to +550 Celsius 

Pictures of the 'over-range' effect are attached for reference. The measured temperature is also shown.

[Fraser]

Image Geometry

There is no hiding the fact that the small lens of the P2 PRO creates some barrel distortion in both the horizontal and vertical axis. As stated at the beginning of this review, sometimes compromises have to be made. This is such as case as the lens needs to be wide angle, very small and relatively inexpensive for this camera solution. Whether such image geometry issues will affect the task suitability of the P2 PRO will depend upon the scenario.

An image captured during the measurement accuracy test shows the barrel distortion in the curvature of the Blackbody emission head casing sides.

[Fraser]

Simple distance Vs detail test

A simple test target comprising vertical and angled slots in a metal plate was positioned in front of a BlackBody. The thermal energy of the Blackbody passes through the slots to be imaged by the P2 Pro camera. As the distance between the test target and camera was increased, images were captured to reveal how much scene detail was lost with distance.

Details of the Target:
Blackbody Temperature: 37.0 Celsius
Target type: Bahtinov mask (Astronomy focussing mask)
Slot width: 3.5mm
Distance between slots: 3.0mm

The distances used for the images are as follows:

Image 1:  10cm
Image 2:  15cm
Image 3:  20cm
Image 4:  30cm
Image 5:  60cm
Image 6:  90cm
Image 7:  120cm

The IFOV for the P2 Pro camera with its 56 Degree HFOV lens and 256 Horizontal Pixels is 3.81792 mRad

At 10cm the pixel size on target is: 0.38mm
At 15cm the pixel size on target is: 0.57mm
At 20cm the pixel size on target is: 0.76mm
At 30cm the pixel size on target is: 1.14mm
At 60cm the pixel size on target is: 2.29mm
At 90cm the pixel size on target is: 3.43mm
At 120cm the pixel size on target is: 4.58mm

From the above, it can be seen that at 60cm distance, there is only one complete pixel seeing the slots width. Once the distance increases to 90cm the width of the target slot is narrower than the pixel size on target. Generally speaking, the more pixels on an area of interest, the better and a minimum of 2x2 is recommended. In the above test, this would equate to a distance from target of 30cm and the result is clear to see in the attached images. At 20cm distance there would be 4 pixels in the width of the target mask slots but the lens focus must also be considered at such close distances.

The test revealed that the P2 Pro has decent close focus capability even without its close-up lens fitted. You cannot beat physics though and the impact of IFOV on the detail that may be pulled out of the image. An Industrial use camera often has a 24 Degree FOV on a 320 x 240 pixel microbolometer to improve the IFOV and, in this respect, the P2 PRO is at a disadvantage. That said, when the Close-Up (Macro) lens is fitted the camera is focussed at 25mm. At that distance each pixel sees approximately 0.1mm on the target object if the FOV is unaltered by the supplemental lens.

[Fraser]

Raspberry Pi 3 Model B running Raspien in idle state

The initial pictures show the R-Pi PCB at the following distances

30cm
25cm
20cm
15cm
10cm

The next two close-up images were taken with the Infiray close-up lens fitted

The last image with my hand in view is the PCB at 44cm distance.

Note that the APP saves images at 1440 x 1080 pixels !

[Fraser]

Raspberry Pi 3 Model B running Raspien in idle state

The following images were captured with the Infiray Close-up lens fitted to the P2 PRO

Note the thermal signature of the two resistors in images 3 to 6 .... they have a small hot spot in the middle. This is the point at which the resistive coating narrows to create the desired resistance and it is where most such SMT resistors fail when overloaded. This is also why resistors sometimes blow a hole through the top sealing layer at this location. 

The last two images show the large IC generating heat towards one corner. Changes to the Brightness and Contrast settings in the software reveal the exact location of the heat source in the IC (bottom left corner). Thermal imaging of a faulty equipment PCB can sometimes reveal a similar hot spot on an IC where one should not exist...an internal failure in the IC. Comparing a known good PCB with a suspect one can provide the required thermal signature reference to spot such issues easily.

[Fraser]

Amazon Firestick TV Dongle Mk1

These little HDMI Android based TV dongles are now commonplace thanks to AMAZON favouring them for its streaming services.

This Firestick is the first Generation Mk1 unit that was well known for running somewhat too hot for its own good. I am using it in these tests because it is modern SMT technology with tiny SMD's all over the PCB. The P2 PRO camera showed the larger IC's pulsing, like a thermal heartbeat, as they carried out instructions. Interesting to watch and useful if other equipment had a similar thermal signature that could be used to see which parts of the system were operating and which were either at HALT or non functional.

[Fraser]

Serial to Ethernet converter. Powered but inactive

These images were taken using a distance hand-held image to show the overall PCB, followed by the close-up lens and microscope mount for the close-in images.

This converter uses larger SMD components than more modern equipment but it is just another example of kit that may be observed in the thermal domain. In this case, the unit is running but not handling any data. The processor can be seen as active and note teh small transistor that is shown in sharp relief. That little guy is generating some heat so is clearly active in some way

[Fraser]

General thermal imaging

Whilst visiting the picturesque small town of Morton-in-Marsh, the opportunity was taken for a night time walk with the P2 Pro to capture some thermal images of the very old and often poorly insulated buildings. Listed Buildings and double glazing are often mutually exclusive terms and this can be seen in many of the images that follow. Images of stationary and moving vehicles shows that frame rate needs to be high to adequately capture a moving target without blurring. The 25fps update rate of the P2 Pro is good, but not quite enough to gain a crisp image of a vehicle moving at 20 to 30 mph. This should not be seen as a failing of the camera however. It remains far better than the <9fps enforced on many users in the past. High speed thermal imaging equipment for fast moving targets is significantly more expensive !

The images are self explanatory and I have grouped the vehicle images together. It was interesting to observe the Electric Vehicles Vs the internal combustion engine powered vehicles. Some ELV battery packs get pretty warm on the underside of the vehicle but that is no great surprise 

When viewing the images, do please consider the fact that the P2 Pro is equipped with a 56 Degree HFOV lens that produces a horizontal IFOV of 3.81792 mRad with 256 pixels reading the horizontal scene. As such it cannot resolve fine thermal detail at great distances. This is true of any thermal camera with a similar specification. A narrower field of view lens would help but decrease the area covered in one image, which is not always desirable. The P2 Pro managed well considering the challenges that faced it and I cannot say that I was disappointed with the performance in these outdoor scenes at low temperatures. much higher resolution and a narrower FOV lens would improve the IFOV figure, but at significant cost. If landscape imaging is the primary use of a thermal camera, then the equipment will not be inexpensive.

Please also note that the P2 Pro APP upscales the 256 x 192 pixel thermal image to 1440 x 1080 pixels    It is also noted that the live image is of higher quality than that seen once saved.

So to the pictures... enjoy 

[Fraser]

General thermal imaging

Morton-in-Marsh continued......

[Fraser]

General thermal imaging

Morton-in-Marsh inside the Hotel grounds......

[Fraser]

General thermal imaging

The Morton-in-Marsh vehicles !  .... some moving, some static, some Electric, some ICE

[Fraser]

Diagnosis of a Central heating fault - a real life use that saved time and money


Whilst visiting his parents home, the author discovered that the central heating system was not producing the expected hot water tap temperatures or hot water tank heating times from cold. This was a real world test for the P2 PRO and it was most fortunate that the author had it with him on the visit. It is no hardship to pack the diminutive P2 PRO camera when away from home and all it needs is a mobile phone to become a powerful thermal diagnostic tool. The Central heating engineer was amazed at the tiny units performance and capabilities when used to diagnose the heating system problem.

There was a partial blockage on the return side of the hot water cylinder heating coil circuit where the water returns to the boiler for reheating. The resulting restriction in heating water flow caused the symptoms that were being experienced. The partial blockage turned out to be an accumulation of ferrous material from the central heating system as it has steel radiators and an cast iron heat exchanger.

A thermal imaging camera can assist diagnostics on many heating and plumbing faults so would be a useful tool to have available if doing such activities.

In the attached images I show a sample of the images captured as the central heating system was warmed up for testing. The Radiators were nice and hot at around 60C to 70 C, yet the water coming out of the taps was around 40C and took a long time to get to that temperature. The heat-up time for the hot water tank was also slow.

3M black pvc insulation tape was wrapped around the copper water pipes at strategic locations to provide the thermal camera with a constant emissivity on which to take measurements. As can be seen in the last picture, the water entering the hot water cylinders copper tube heating coil is at around 67C yet the water leaving the heating coil is at around 35C at best and that was after a 1.5 hour heating period. That is just not right and the water in the cylinder was at around 40C at that point in time.

The restriction is in the lower pipe that you see leading from the cylinder at 35C, turning left and connecting to the bypass gate valve and two pipes that head into the loft above, it then heads down into the floor to make its way back to the boiler return circuit.

[Fraser]

Ergonomics of the P2 PRO thermal imaging solution

Whilst the P2 PRO camera is very small and convenient to carry when not in use, I found the use of a thermal camera equipped mobile phone less than pleasant and, personally, would not choose this format for my only thermal imaging camera. I found holding the camera in the vertical orientation without getting my hand in the way of the thermal camera to be challenging and somewhat frustrating !
I was using the Samsung S9 PLUS and its rounded edges did not help me to feel that the camera was secure in my hand as I adjusted my grip to avoid my hands thermal output affecting the thermal image. This may well be a personal preference issue as I generally do not like using mobile phones for photography. That said, all the ergonomic issues of holding the phone disappeared once I added a mobile phone holder and hand grip to the kit. Sadly this also adds bulk to the solution so is not suited to all use scenarios. I would happily accept the less than ideal ergonomics of a P2 PRO mounted directly on a mobile phone for occasional use however. It is just so convenient to have around !

The phone holder purchased for use with the P2 PRO and Samsung phones is the very nicely made ARNARKOK FWL-02 Lightweight model from AMAZON. It offers an all metal chassis with rotatable, locking mobile phone holder, a tilt function with adjustable friction, standard tripod mountings (including the ARCA SWISS type) two Cold shoe mounts (one rotatable) and 1/4" 20TPI threaded mounts in the front. Perfect for my needs, now and in the future 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09TPDSLF8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The slimline handle solution comes from MANFROTTO and is called the TWISTGRIP System. It comes in 3 versions: Handle only, Handle + T Bar and a complete kit of Handle, T bar and Mobile Phone holder. These kits are normally expensive but may be sourced at better prices on eBay.

[Fraser]

Alternative mounts for the P2 Pro Camera head:

The Microscope stand

This is my favourite mount for the P2 when working on a PCB. It provides a stable and solid mounting platform on which to attach the P2 PRO camera head. The microscope mount was originally sold for USB visible light microscope use but is easily adapted for use with the P2 PRO using parts made on a 3D printer.

Credit is due hrer to forum member "BOSTWICKENATOR" who designed and shared the excellent tripod adapter 'cube' that i am using with a simple 3D printed cylinder that mounts in the microscope collar. I made two version of the mount adapter, one fixed position and one with a ball joint to permit angling of the camera as desired. I far prefer the adapter with the ball joint for PCB analysis work. 

The tripod adapter cube, plus other useful P2 related bits designed by Boswickenator may be found here:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5144744

My sincerest thanks to Bostwickenator for sharing his neat design 

The USB Type C cable exit from the P2 PRO camera was not very convenient when mounted in the microscope stand so I purchased a USB Type C right angle adapter to direct the cable vertically away from the camera head. Such adapters are available on ebay at very reasonable cost. The Ball joint that I used is a very neat aluminium unit with a small diameter mounting plate. Perfect for this application and available form here as the "K18A" model : https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/394219579197?var=662733846064.

The microscope mount was purchased on amazon :

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0797PPX8D/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It is a common item to be found on eBay and other retail outlets.

The 3D printed cylinder STL file will be provided in the attachments, below.

[Fraser]

Alternative mounts for the P2 Pro Camera head:

Thanks to the 3D printable tripod adapter designed by Bostwickenator, the World is your oyster when it comes to mounting options for the tiny P2 PRO camera. If a conventional digital camera can mount on it, then so too can the P2 Pro 

I include pictures of some of the mounts that I have used with the P2 PRO to prove just how versatile this little thermal camera can be when it comes to deploying it in ways not originally intended by the OEM   

I will first detail the ball mount with the Bostwickenator P2 tripod adapter as that is at the heart of many of the mounting systems I tried.

Then there is the ubiquitous flexible gooseneck mount that is often sold as a microphone stand. Married to the ball joint via a thread adapter, it is a very versatile mounting solution.

Finally in this post, there is the "Jack" mount that is a small platform that mat be adjusted in height and platform angle to suite the needs of the user. Just another photographic accessory that may be used with the P2 PRO camera thanks to the ball joint and Bostwickenator adapter.

[Fraser]

Alternative mounts for the P2 Pro Camera head:

When it comes to camera mounting options, the common tripod will come to mind. These come in all shapes and sizes so there is normally one that matches teh users needs, be it a table top lightweight type or a sturdy tall heavyweight model for outdoor use. There are tripods to meet every need in between so there is no problem finding a tripod to meet you needs and budget 

The pictures are of a simple travel desk tripod that is very convenient for use with the diminutive P2 PRO camera head

The second set of pictures are of a slightly heavier duty desk tripod that offers a better ball head and extending legs with two angles to provide height adjustment.

Finally for this post, there is a cheap extending handle type mount that offers extended reach plus a tripod, if needed. 

[Fraser]

Alternative mounts for the P2 Pro Camera head:

The last set of mounting options for the moment are shown heer, but I will add more to this thread as and when I discover more ways to deploy the little P2 Pro camera 

First we have the excellent mobile phone mount that also provides the mounting points to attach the P2 Pro tripod adapter directly or via the ball joint. the mobile phone adapter was chosen for its versatility rather than cost and it was not as inexpensive as plastic versions. This mounting option permits use of the mobile phone/P2 PRO combination on a camera handle/pistol grip. This can make the use of the thermal imaging system easier due to the ease of holding it. The mobile phone mount permits Portrait to Landscape phone rotation and tilting to add convenience to the solution.

Two types of photographic handle are next. One is just a simple straight cylinder design with rubber grip sleeve, whereas the second one is more pistol grip in shape and incorporates two useful additional features.... a pivoting top mount to suit the users needs and a built in desk tripod that comes out of the handles base. the handle also has a tripod mount on its base. A versatile little handle and there are many such clever handle designs available on the market.

Next up is a very neat articulated arm mounting solution that is mounted on an inexpensive desk stand. The articulated arm provides great versatility with regards to positioning of the P2 Pro camera head in close-up or at a distance from the object being observed.

Finally for this post, we have the "Selfie Stick" format of pole mount. In some situations, it can be useful to mount a camera on the end of a long pole in order to image an inaccessible area remotely. In the case of a P2 PRO thermal camera, it would be possible to gain a thermal view of an inaccessible area without the need to worry about setting focus distance and the camera has excellent dept of field. The use of a long USB Type C extension cable would permit very long camera poles to be used. The example camera pole shown in the pictures is just a common unexpensive type of limited length (1.2m / 4ft), but it is still useful to have. Much longer camera poles are available or a camera monopod could easily be adapted to mount the P2 PRO on its end. The P2 Pro was tested with a 5m USB Type C extension cable and worked without complaint.

[Fraser]

Hardware Bugs discovered during testing:

No hardware Bugs were evident during the 1 month testing period of the P2 Pro camera dongle.

The P2 Pro continues to draw 60mA from the Samsung Host mobile Phone even when the APP is not open. Whilst not a bug, this characteristic should be known as it will discharge the mobile phone battery over time.

[Fraser]

Software Bugs discovered during testing:

There are two software bugs worthy of note here:

1. The camera is not recognised when plugged into the Samsung Mobile Phone. This may be remedied by unplugging the camera, going to the APP use history and deleting the P2 Pro entry. Plug the camera into the phone again and the APP will auto start and see the camera.

2. The latest (December 6th) release of the APP will not start when the P2 Pro icon is pressed. The Samsung phone declares "APP not found" This may be overcome by just plugging the camera into the phone so thathe APP auto starts without the need to manually press its icon button. If the camera is not seen and the App does not auto start, follow the procedure detailed in 1, above.

UPDATE : Both of these issues appear to have been fixed in the latest version of the APP released on 14 December 2022. It is early days though.
 

[Fraser]

Conclusion

The P2 Pro thermal imaging dongle has proven to be a most useful thermal imaging tool both in static use and whilst mobile. The abilities of the camera when coupled to its excellent close-up lens truly impressed. This camera is like having a thermal microscope in your pocket 
The accuracy of the P2 Pro temperature measurements was a very pleasant surprise and shows that the Infiray Tiny1 is a very capable little Radiometric core. Such measurement accuracy will be very useful for the monitoring of PCB's or other thermal sources. The diminutive size of the camera hardware lends itself to many applications where a conventional, more bulky, thermal camera could not be used. As can be seen from this review, there are many ways to deploy this little camera and it provides reliable and useful thermal imagery when coupled to a decent quality mobile phone.

This Infiray P2 Pro camera has positively changed the previously negative view of the Author towards thermal dongle cameras and that is quite a feat ! This camera will become part of the Authors thermal imaging "Toolkit" along-side other thermal cameras that cost significantly more.

Would the author buy one if a sample had not been gifted to him ? Simple answer ... definitely. She's a little beauty   

Fraser

[Fraser]

Video review and teardown


There is a review and teardown by Mike here:

https://youtu.be/YMQeXq1ujn0

Well worth a watch

Fraser

[chemary]

Thanks fraser for this very complete review. The "Measurement Accuracy confidence test" point was quite interesting, sincerely I didn't expected the error to be within specs but is true you know exactly the emissivity of the black body and in normal situations you can only guess an approximation for it's value and it's impossible to get accurate results when you have very different materials in the scene.

[Fraser]

For anyone interested in seeing the different colour palettes that the APP offers, I attach sample images of my ugly mug in all sorts of colour schemes 

[Fraser]

The "Elephant in the room"

The P2 Pro camera system provides some saved image analysis on the phone APP. This is limited to measurement functions but the relatively small screen of a Mobile Phone is not always the easiest to use for image analysis. Infiray do not, at this time, supply saved image analysis software for a Desktop/Laptop computer. This is a pity.

In a perfect World, there would be a Desktop/Laptop computer software package that would offer the option for connecting directly to the P2 Pro camera, or to work with saved images from the mobile phone. The ability to use a large display screen and to annotate, analyse and adjust images prior to entry in a report would be an excellent enhancement.  if desktop/laptop software were to be made available, the P2 Pro and a microscope stand would make a very useful Electronics PCB analysis tool for R&D or repair operations. Not quite a DYT CA-10, but may be good enough for many users.

Fraser

[Fraser]

For those interested in seeing the various measurement functions available in the PRO mode I attach some images taken whilst working with the R-Pi. The focus is far from optimal so the measurements are not to be trusted. The images do show the spot, line and rectangle ROI functions however. The App allows three of each type of ROI to be present on the display.  More than one type of ROI is permitted on the display at a time so mixing of spot temperatures, measurement lines and measurement rectangles is not a problem. it is possible to have 3 Spot temperatures, 3 lines and 3 rectangles present at the same time if desired. The Average, Maximum and Minimum temperature of each ROI is detailed across teh top of the display. With many ROI's active, the top of the display gets pretty crowded !

The first image is with the P2 Pro operating in Basic mode where a centre spot is provided, along with Maximum and Minimum temperature markers and measurements for the scene. The images that follow are all from the PRO mode where different types of ROI may be selected and positioned on the scene.

[Fraser]

Now for something a little different....the P2 Pro thermal image of my hand ! The last two images are of my hand holding a cold mars bar 

[katzenhai2]

Because the red text at the beginning of the topic is missing I thought you were done... 

A small suggestion for improvement (but you've already put so much effort into it):
The photos are really a bit big. Resizing might not be bad: maybe to 320x240 or a maximum of 640x480. 

But now that you're done it would probably be overkill.  

Overall: SUPERB WORK!!! 

[Fraser]

Hi Katzenhai2,

I totally agree ! The problem is that the P2 Pro App saves the 256 x 192 pixel images as an upscaled 1440 x 1080 pixel image 

I have an issue with that decision.... by upscaling the image there is the possibility that the image may be degraded in the process. Fine for the image displayed on a mobile phones high resolution screen, but not so great as a saved file. These sorts of lower resolution images often do not look that great when over enlarged and I think that is the case here.

If I were to reduce the size of the images before posting them here, I may further degrade them so I thought it best to leave well alone. The saved images do not appear to be as good as that viewed on the phones screen so JPEG compression could also be taking a toll on the image quality.

Fraser

[Fraser]

Oooops I just noticed that my visible light image size has crept up  I used to post images at 1024 x 768 pixels as they were often of PCB’s etc that people wanted to examine in a bit of detail. Sadly it looks like my image resizer software has been left on a higher resolution setting. They look fine on my iPad but may not on lower resolution screens. Sorry folks.

[Vipitis]

I haven't yet read all of it, but a few chapters are really interesting. From the "who is IRAY" to the really important geometric distortion.

I would still like to ask a question about the software side of things. Especially for recording video. Does it give you any more settings then the three mentioned? And what codec, bitrate, resolution are you getting when recording a video with the app?

It does seem like a landmark product that brings the idea of the FLIR One to something as affordable but way better in most aspects. I hope that there is more development and we get VGA sized products that are still affordable in a few years.

[Fraser]

Vipitis,

Thanks for the question.

I attach a screenshot from Mediainfo that provides plenty of detail of the MP4 file characteristics. I hope this is what you need.

The video used to gain this information was recorded using a Samsung A8 mobile phone. I will test the video recording function on the S9 Plus phone to see if the frame rate improves.

Fraser

[Fraser]

The Video recorded on the Samsung S9 showed some improvement in frame rate, at ~19fps, but the full 25fps capabilities of the P2 Pro camera are not being seen in the recordings. Image quality looks decent enough. The S9 Plus is quite a powerful phone but the more recent mobile phone may show even better frame rate. I regret I cannot test that for you as I do not own such a phone.

It should be noted that the video is being recorded as 1440 x 1080 resolution and not at the cameras native 256 x 192 pixels.

I also made sure that the phone was moved a lot during the video in order to load the compression algorithm with an ever changing scene. I will try a less harsh test with just me moving in a static scene.

The frame rate may be better with the P2 Pro connected to a decent PC but that would require 3rd party software.

Fraser

[Fraser]

Vipitis has raised a very good question that I did not cover in my review of the P2 Pro. This was an oversight as I personally do not use thermal cameras to record video.

A little bit of information regarding video recordings from thermal cameras …….

With an all-in-one self contained thermal camera that offers video recording capability, the manufacturer will select video processing elements of the design to match the intended performance specifications. The firmware will be ‘tuned’ to provide the best possible frame rate during video recordings but the resolution of such video recordings can vary greatly. Clearly recording a high resolution video will place greater demands on the systems processor as it not only has to deal with the thermal imaging side of the system, but it will also have to upscale and capture at decent frame rates. More pixels = more work and potentially slower frame rates if the processor cannot cope. A manufacturer will consider resolution, frame rate and cost in order to provide the user with an acceptable specification that the camera will meet.

If we consider a thermal camera dongle then the scenario changes in terms of the processing hardware selection. Where a Mobile Phone is used to do the video processing of the thermal image data that is coming into its USB port, we need to consider potential bottlenecks, upscaling requirements, video capture process, processor limitations and the resultant impact on the achievable frame rate. As I was once told….. “ life is relatively simple when you design a thermal camera from scratch and have control over the BoM. However marrying a thermal imaging camera front-end to a Mobile Phone back-end is a total nightmare, as you have no control over the specification and configuration of the Mobile Phone hardware”. This is why some designers actually prefer the Apple iPhones for such tasks as the specification is well documented and current sales line limited in number.

So back to marrying a thermal camera dongle front-end to a mobile phone… There are so many things that can go wrong or be sub-optimal with such a ‘marriage’. The first challenge is hardware level compatibility where the appropriate USB or Apple interface is selected. The data communications bearer must be capable of passing data at a rate adequate for the intended video capture frame rate. USB is a pig when it comes to Video data streaming as it is packet based rather than the very efficient stream that IEE1394 (FireWire) used. That said, USB 2.0 and above usually copes OK for most common video data rates. Once the thermal camera data is inside the phone, it is processed by the APK and Software APP to create a thermal image. This is a load on the processor but we must also consider that the same processor is likely doing other “housekeeping” tasks that may also demand attention in conflict with the thermal imaging process that is ongoing. The processor needs to be powerful enough and configured to prioritise the thermal imaging process if dropped frames are to be avoided. Now add to the processors workload the requirement to not only upscale the thermal camera images at full frame rate, but also encode them into MP4 format for saving as a video capture file. All this work is time critical if dropped frames are to be avoided or the frame rate not impacted negatively. This is quite the “ask” for a mobile phone that was not actually intended for such duties. Sure modern mobile phones can capture high resolution visible light camera data but that side of the phone was part of the original designers realm where parts were carefully selected and optimised for the task. We, on the other hand, are bolting on a USB thermal camera that has different needs not considered during the phones design.

So where does this scenario leave us ? Well it is clear that if the mobile phone host to which we connect a thermal dongle camera does not have the required multi-tasking “horsepower” in its processor, the recording of smooth high frame rate video will not be possible. What will happen is that the phone will do its best to meet the needs of the thermal camera application but the frame rate will be impacted by its inability to complete the capture process in the allotted time frame. Dropped frames will be a fact of life. If the thermal camera dongle is attached to a very powerful modern mobile phone that has more processing power than any phone user could wish for, the situation changes. We now have the required processing capability and “headroom” to meet the needs of the thermal camera dongle data processing, upscaling and video capture to MP4 format. Great ! But there remains a risk to the processes smooth running for video capture. We still need the phone processor to prioritise the needs of the thermal camera video capture task over its other housekeeping tasks and there must be no data bottlenecks outside the processor. The USB port specification needs to be adequate for the frame rate that will be transferred from the camera dongle to the phone processor. Thankfully USB is now pretty reliable in this respect but it still has its limitations at USB 2.0. USB 3.1 is far more useful for video capture tasks but both the source and host need to be USB3.1 compliant. Just because a USB 3.1 compliant connector is present, it does not necessarily mean that the electronics connected to that port are compliant and it could be USB 2.0 ! It is not uncommon to find this issue with budget equipment claiming USB 3.0 or 3.1 compatibility….. they are USB 2.0 and USB3.0/3.1 is backward compatible with USB2.0. The problem is that the data rate capabilities  are very different.

If we are very fortunate and the “Planets are in alignment” we can connect a thermal camera dongle to a decent performance mobile phone and the full frame rate capabilities of the thermal camera dongles will be presented on the phones display and will be recordable to a MP4 file at full frame rate in a resolution appropriate for viewing on a MP4 playback device of the users choice. For this to happen both the hardware and software must work in harmony with no inefficient coding or poor optimisation of the processors capabilities. Sadly it has often been found that the APP that is running on the mobile phone has to be very tolerant of different  host mobile phone brands, operating system versions and hardware capabilities. This results in inefficiencies that can lead to lower performance than might have been possible if the app was written for a specific mobile phone model and tuned for peak performance whilst on thermal imaging duties.

Some trivia….. FLIR created the FLIR One Generation 1 mobile phone jacket thermal camera for the Apple iPhone only. They did this as they could then write efficient code for the particular series of iPhone in order to get the best from its processor to deal with the needs of the thermal camera module. FLIR did not want to create an Android version of the FLIR One Gen 1 as there were too many variables that could cause issues with performance. Not least of which was the many different case sizes and formats of Android phones. For the FLIR One Gen 2 camera project, FLIR decided to make both iOS and Android compatible versions. This was a major decision for them as the APP coders advised of all that could go wrong with trying to meet the needs of the thermal camera when FLIR had no visibility or control over the brand, model, performance, operating system version and configuration of the host mobile phone. A decision was made to create an APP that complied with Android programming best practices in order to gain best multi platform compatibility. FLIR could do little more than this in the circumstances BUT they made the decision to design their Android FLIR One G2 solution based upon a well known and powerful mobile phone of equivalent performance to the iPhone that had already been proven adequate for the task.
The mobile phone FLIR chose for their Android solution was the venerable Samsung S5. This was an expensive flagship phone at the time but FLIR wanted their FLIR One G2 to perform well in the market and the S5 had the processor to ensure decent frame rates within the <9fps limit imposed by Government regulations. The App for the FLIR One G2 could not be optimised for the S5 to the point that only an S5 could be used so compromises in the fine tuning of code were necessary. FLIR struggled to achieve the same performance of their FLIR One G2 iOS solution, even when using the S5 ! Further development did close the gap between the iOS and Android versions performance but the iOS was more highly tuned and always had the edge over the Android App. This is the cost of programming for a broad spectrum of platforms that may have very different configurations despite all running Android.


So to summarise all of the above…… if you are a videographer wishing to use thermal imaging in a video format, beware of the pitfalls associated with mobile phone dongles designed to be compatible with a broad spectrum of Android based Host mobile phones. Frame rate can be VERY variable even when powerful host phones are used.

Worthy of note is that even some Industrial grade thermal imaging cameras that offer video recording cannot record video at the same rate that they can display it in the live scene. It all comes down to processing power and a decision by the manufacturer on how much processing power they will build into the camera. Thermal videography is not normally a high priority in general thermography work. High speed thermography is a totally different ball game. Just look at my FLIR SC4000 to see that !

It should also be understood that Radiometric video is not normally found on budget thermal imaging solutions so post capture analysis of individual frames is not possible. Science cameras are often capable of high frame rates whilst also offering high frame rate capture of Radiometric frames that may be treated as still frames for image analysis. That said, the “video recorder” for such cameras is often a dedicated external device with a very high data rate interface to the thermal camera. Basically, if you have to ask the price, you cannot afford it.

Fraser

[Gareth79]

It was mentioned in the other thread that when plugged into a PC the P2 works as a regular USB webcam. I haven't tried myself yet (I don't have an appropriate adapter) but for reliable video recording that would be the way to go for now. I assume there is some sort of default image profile applied (with no temp overlay), but it should be possible to colour/recolour the image using something like ffmpeg.

[Fraser]

Garath79,

I have had the P2 Pro camera running with "Debut" by NCH.

The P2 Pro seems pretty happy working into the PC and imaging performance looks OK as well. The plaster dabs of the dry lining in our house are clearly visible. My wife's hand on the kitty is a bit over blown but I am pleasantly surprised by the images considering the camera is in 'dumb' web cam mode. Images are stored by Debut at their native resolution.

Quick and dirty pictures attached 

Fraser

[Fraser]

I will continue to post information about the P2 Pro here as and when there is something interesting to report, such as APP updates etc. There is further testing that can be done as and when my spare time permits.

There is also the P2 Pro discussion thread that I started as a place to discuss all matters pertaining to the Infiray  P2 / P2 Pro and other dongle type cameras that use the Infiray Tiny1 core.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/thermal-imaging/infiray-and-their-p2-pro-discussion/

It has been discovered by others that some software and Apps for other Tiny1 core based cameras will work with the P2 and P2 Pro.

Some other Apps may not support the extended temperature measurement capabilities of the P2 Pro but will work in the lower temperature range. I was concerned to hear that at least one App offered a firmware upgrade option. This should be treated with great care if using with a P2 Pro as a firmware upgrade may have unpredictable results. I strongly recommend that any firmware upgrade should only be applied to the exact model sir which it was intended.

Fraser

[mobby_6kl]

Thanks for the detailed review and comments! I've already received mine, but do you know how the burn protection works? What would actually cause damage to the sensor? One thing I tried was measuring the temperature of oil in a pan and it immediately went into burn protection mode. But I don't think it would be even outside the 500 degree measurement range.


I'll second the recommendation to not update the firmware though, I recently did it for my laptop's touchscreen and it actually installed the wrong configuration (from a different model) so the touchscreen is now useless. Oops!

[Fraser]

Infiray indicate that they do not recommend prolonged exposure of the P2 to a scene with contents above 300 Celsius.

From the P2 manual….

“ This product is sensitive to thermal radiation. Whether you are using it or not, do not direct its lens to the sun or other heat sources at temperatures above 300 for a long time.”

Read more: https://manuals.plus/infiray/p2-night-vision-go-thermal-camera-imager-infrared-imaging-for-mobile-phone-manual#ixzz7naNjP37R

Most microbolometers are pretty robust and ‘sun safe’ but Infiray clearly have concerns about burn-in so have included this warning in the manual. It is possible to cause localised heating of the microbolometer die through long exposure to a hot source but the effects of this (a ghost image) normally fade away quite quickly once the camera is no longer viewing the source. During my testing of the P2 Pro with the Blackbody sources, I moved the camera away between measurements above 100C as the emitted thermal energy would start to cook the P2 casing and potentially impact the measurement accuracy.

I suspect the idea is that if you enable the high temperature protection, it avoids a mistake being made as the camera will protect itself by placing the FFC flag in front of the microbolometer if a temperature above 300C is detected in the field of view. The user must then manually disable the protection to view a target that is above 300C. This is sort of a reminder that the source temperature potentially could have an impact on the P2 camera if exposure is prolonged at close range.

Fraser

[Fraser]

There is a new release of the P2 Pro APP 

The release is version 1.0.7.221214 so was created on Wednesday. Upon installing it I immediately noticed that the issue of the ‘APP not starting from the P2 Pro Icon’ issue has been fixed  .

The issue of the P2 Pro camera not being seen when connected seems to be far less common now. It had become quite a regular event during my testing of the camera. Hopefully this has been addressed in the new APP release….. early days though 

We still have no rotation of menu’s in Landscape mode but that can sit on the “suggestions list” as it is not essential to operation of the camera.

I am pleased that Infiray are quick to correct bugs in their software 

Fraser

[mobby_6kl]

Infiray indicate that they do not recommend prolonged exposure of the P2 to a scene with contents above 300 Celsius.

From the P2 manual….

“ This product is sensitive to thermal radiation. Whether you are using it or not, do not direct its lens to the sun or other heat sources at temperatures above 300 for a long time.”

Read more: https://manuals.plus/infiray/p2-night-vision-go-thermal-camera-imager-infrared-imaging-for-mobile-phone-manual#ixzz7naNjP37R

Most microbolometers are pretty robust and ‘sun safe’ but Infiray clearly have concerns about burn-in so have included this warning in the manual. It is possible to cause localised heating of the microbolometer die through long exposure to a hot source but the effects of this (a ghost image) normally fade away quite quickly once the camera is no longer viewing the source. During my testing of the P2 Pro with the Blackbody sources, I moved the camera away between measurements above 100C as the emitted thermal energy would start to cook the P2 casing and potentially impact the measurement accuracy.

I suspect the idea is that if you enable the high temperature protection, it avoids a mistake being made as the camera will protect itself by placing the FFC flag in front of the microbolometer if a temperature above 300C is detected in the field of view. The user must then manually disable the protection to view a target that is above 300C. This is sort of a reminder that the source temperature potentially could have an impact on the P2 camera if exposure is prolonged at close range.

Fraser

Oh, thanks. A bit of a bummer considering it can measure up to 500c but realistically I'll probably rarely if ever run into this.

And yeah the new app does seem to be a bit better which is great news!


I have a laptop with USB-C so I tried plugging it in and it does work as a camera, but it has this heavy noise pattern over the image. That's my hand:



All that noise isn't noise like in a normal camera, but a pattern that's always there, you can see it's the same when looking at a blank wall here:



This made me worried that something happened to the camera but in the app the images look fine. Really seems unlikely it would be able to denoise that sort of picture that effectively.



Is this the same for everyone or just something weird with my unit?

[Fraser]

To use the camera as a webcam on a PC you need the custom USB driver for the Tiny1 core. This is provided with the Tiny1-C SDK available from Infiray. This provides the image correction factors required for a nice clean image as I showed earlier.

Regarding the high temperature protection… do not concern yourself about viewing high temperature objects, just do not leave the camera staring at them for a long time. The high temperature protection is switched off on my camera, and will remain so as it truly is not a high risk to the microbolometer in normal (sensible) use.

Fraser

[beatle]

Absolutely stunning review Fraser, thank you for doing this work and sharing with everyone! 

This has pushed me over the edge to deciding to purchase one, but am I missing something or has the price gone up by around 100 bucks a week or so ago!?
Looking at price tracker sites, the P2 PRO with the add-on lens went for around 250 $ during the last two months and then jumped to 350 $ and more in all Aliexpress stores.

[Fraser]

I just checked and the prices to the UK still looked like around £200. I then noticed an interesting detail. Some sellers are selling the P2 Pro camera on its own with the Close-up lens an optional extra. This may be what you are seeing. I saw one seller offering the close-up lens on its own for around $80.

It is worth shipping around as you will know. There are often discounts on these cameras at this time of year.

Fraser

[Fraser]

I found the P2 Pro for $251 on Ali Express and it includes the Close-up lens. They also offer it for $233 without the add on close-up lens. They are claiming a discount of 30% on an RRP of $358?

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005043220993.html?pdp_npi=2%40dis%21GBP%21%EF%BF%A1286.16%21%EF%BF%A1200.31%21%21%21%21%21%40211b443e16713148227805615e1a6b%2112000031430381049%21btf&_t=pvid%3A8b6d2ef6-18bd-4aa3-a8ea-ddafcef5cab7&afTraceInfo=1005005043220993__msite__c_ppc_item_bridge__xxxxxx__1671314823&spm=a2g0n.ppclist.product.0

[beatle]

I found the P2 Pro for $251 on Ali Express and it includes the Close-up lens. They also offer it for $233 without the add on close-up lens. They are claiming a discount of 30% on an RRP of $358?

I greatly appreciate you taking the time to look into this!

Strangely, when I went to the link that you shared, it stated a price of 303$ for the set. I guess it is location based, maybe they have different prices for UK and EU because of taxes, I don't know. Although I was sure I saw prices around the 250$ mark a week ago for my location too.

I will shop around, as you suggest!

[katzenhai2]

Strangely, when I went to the link that you shared, it stated a price of 303$ for the set. I guess it is location based, maybe they have different prices for UK and EU because of taxes, I don't know. Although I was sure I saw prices around the 250$ mark a week ago for my location too.

I will shop around, as you suggest!

There was a set with the macro lens for Android for 243,71 € (on the far right in the options) but thats not available anymore hence the higher price (now 292,69 €).

[Fraser]

iOS Compatible P2 Pro

For those who might wish to use the P2 Pro with an Apple iOS phone or tablet, Infiray make a P2 Pro iOS (Lightning) and the same format of P2 Pro application is available on the Apple App Store. The iOS device needs to be running at least iOS 13 for compatibility. Sadly that rules out iPad Air 1 tablets as they stopped updating at iOS 12. A pity as I have a couple of spare Air 1’s.

Good to see that Infiray are supporting the iOS community though.

Fraser

[Fraser]

A suggestion for Infiray……

It would be useful to be able to run the P2 Pro application Gallery image analysis mode without the camera fitted. This would enable users to analyse images on various compatible platforms without needing the camera to be plugged in and working. In my case I could send images to my iPad from my Android phone and benefit from a larger display for the image analysis element of my work. It would be a sort of ‘off-line’ editing and analysis mode of the P2 Pro application. Such a mode would also enable sharing of images with people who do not have the camera but who wish to analyse an image produced by someone else.

I shall send this suggestion direct to Infiray.

Fraser

[Fraser]

Whilst looking at the iOS version of the P2 Pro I saw a different App being used and it has piqued my interest. It appears to have different functionality to the P2 Pro App and is worthy of further investigation. From the pictures it appears to have a manual level and span mode but that could just be the Isotherm mode. See the attached images from this page….

https://m.sunsky-online.com/p/DCA2076H/InfiRay-P2-Pro-8-Pin-iOS-Phones-Night-Vision-Infrared-Thermal-Imager-Grey-.htm

[blargg]

I just received my P2 Pro + macro and this is one of the best tech toys I've bought, especially at $239 with the macro lens included. Maybe an oscilloscope comes second. First thermal camera and I'm really glad I got this unit. It fits well on my two phones (LG V20 with Android 8 and Moto G Power 2020 with Android 11), including with the clear rubbery bumper cases. I like how small it is so I can bring it with me to examine the larger world.

I've had a few issues, fairly minor. First where the app won't detect the camera and I have to exit the app then manually open it again. I do NOT have to remove and re-insert the camera. On my V20, with a less-tall screen, the photo/record text goes off the bottom so I have to tap where they would be to get them. Finally, I can't seem to get the Spot Temp Display to work (it's grayed out). I can place temp points and it awkwardly shows the temp of them in the corner rather than at the point. Thanks Fraser, I have going back to simple mode enabled the spot temp feature. Odd it can't support that in pro mode.

EDIT: the app hanging on open is actually a serious issue. Sometimes I just can't get it to work. Keep killing it, removing and reinserting camera. Have to reboot phone to get app to work. Very frustrating.

I'd been waiting for years to get a thermal camera, not liking the FLIR offerings which have internal batteries, restrictive apps, and low frame rates and resolution. I saw a YouTube video recently about the P2 Pro and the 25 Hz frame rate stood out. I delved into the overly numerous offerings from Infiray but still settled on this one for its compactness and lack of having to mess with focus. The macro makes up for that. I looked a little into other brands, specifically Seek, but those didn't match the frame rate etc.

Distribution seemed iffy as there seems to be no official seller for them. I looked around for sellers and found Pergear that has the P2 Pro+ (with macro lens) for $239 shipped, no tax (I'm in the USA). The site looked a little generic but I delved more and they seemed legit and it was a good deal. They have PayPal checkout so I was able to use my Chase 5% cash back they have for PayPal currently. 18 days total from order to delivery to USA. They took several days to get it shipped out. They claim to offer a one-year warranty which seemed better than what I'd get through a random Aliexpress seller. I've had bad experience with AliExpress buyer protection so was glad to find another seller. It was well-packed too with a couple of layers of foam, inside a bubble mailer. So it worked out well.

We have cats and it's a blast watching them walk around leaving little paw heat prints, and shapes when they stand in one place for a while.

[Fraser]

Pleased to hear that you like the little P2 Pro.

Regarding spot temperature measurement….. the App defaults to “Pro” mode which offers you three different measurement types….. spot, line and rectangle ROI. As an advanced mode it permits the user to set where’re those measurements are positioned on the scene. There are three of each type of measurement available to deploy. For a simpler mode without the manually placed measurements, go to settings and switch off them”Pro” mode. This then gives you the same scenes settings but with an automatic measurement mode. The automatic measurement offers the maximum, minimum and centre spot temperatures with markers showing where they are and measurements adjacent to the marker. The measurement function can be switched off with the spot icon in the user menu. You can also switch off the Infiray watermark if you do not want it on your images. Just go to the menu and deselect the Watermark.

Fraser

[babysitter]

Thank you for the written review (non video). Is that a bahtinov mask you used for resolution?
Really considering this thiny plug in.

[Vipitis]

Some video codecs will mit work with those odd resolutions out of the box, so the lazy way is to upscale first to a supported resolution.

[Fraser]

If considering buying a Infiray P2 Pro please read the following thread and do your own research !

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/thermal-imaging/infiray-v2-cameras-not-as-good-as-v1-models/

Infiray are releasing new versions of their cameras and some appear to be exhibiting performance issues ! My review applies only to the P2Pro V3 of May 2022.

Fraser