EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
Products => Thermal Imaging => Topic started by: saladoil on September 29, 2023, 12:12:10 pm
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Hi there!
Could any one say something about the Uni-T UTI730E? Any experiences? What about build quality and image quality?
I'm planning to buy a thermal camera for inspecting a house, finding leaks and themal bridges, inspecting a photovoltaic system / batteries etc.
I believe the relatively high thermal resolution of 320 by 240 is a big plus, but the high NETD of 65 mK (0.065° K) isn't that good iin comparison, but good enough for my usecase I believe. The low refresh rate of 9 Hz should be ok, since i only take stills. So for me it seems this camera has a good value for the money, right?
What do you think, would this camera be a good choice?
Thank you so much,
Chris
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As no one else has offered comment, I will share my thoughts on the camera but please note that I am using research as a basis for comment and not hands on use of this specific camera.
Initial thoughts on the design…….
1. The image that it produces appears to contain higher than expected levels of noise.
2. The camera produces sub 9fps image refresh which is now unusual if an Asian core is in use.
3. The lens is fixed focus so a compromise that works OK but manual focus produces better image sharpness in many cases.
4. I looked at the manual and could not find manual span and centre temperature as an option. I did find Isothermal boundary settings, but that was all.
5. The resolution is good at 320 x 240 pixels but that resolution is somewhat squandered by a wide field of view lens (56 degrees). A pity as a smaller field of view would benefit your intended use scenarios. The IFOV suffers as a result of this lens chouce.
6. Do not get fixated on thermal sensitivity figures. They can be very misleading and 65mK is more than respectable for a microbolometer based camera.
I studied the images of the UTI-730E and made an ugly discovery. I was already suspicious of the noisy images shown in the user manual….. they looked familiar to me. I then saw the detail of the thermal cores lens adjustment ring. I immediately recognised this as the focus ring (for factory setup) of a Seek Thermal Mosaic 320 core. Sure enough the Seek Thermal 320 offers a 56 degree FOV lens.
I will be careful what I say as everyone will have their own opinion of Seek Thermal cores and their performance. All I will say is that, in my experience, I have found the SeeK Thermal cores to produce higher than market average levels of noise at low temperature spans. The cores coming out of Asia from companies such as IRAY Infiray and Guide Sensmart offer higher frame rates and, in my opinion, lower noise imagery. Now noise is to be expected at small temperature spans, but the Seek Thermal cores appear to be showing their age. Seek Thermal realise this and have released an updated noise processing algorithm for their Mosaic cores to reduce visible noise. The images in the UTI-730E look like those produced by a standard Mosaic 320 Core based product. I personally would not buy an expensive camera that is based on that core.
You need to do your own research to decide whether a Seek Mosaic 320-56 core based camera will meet your needs, especially with low Delta T Scenes. High Delta T scenes cause the camera to select a wider temperature span and the imagery is normally much cleaner and free from significant noise.
I attach some pictures of the Mosaic core focus ring.
Mosaic datasheet…..
https://www.thermal.com/uploads/1/0/1/3/101388544/mosaic_core_engineering_datasheet_165_rev13.pdf (https://www.thermal.com/uploads/1/0/1/3/101388544/mosaic_core_engineering_datasheet_165_rev13.pdf)
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Take a look at the sample images shown in the UTi730E user manual to see what I mean about image noise levels in low Delta T scenes. I note that the advertising images for this camera show very nice, clean thermal images……. Marketing tricks !
https://thermal.uni-trend.com/download/uti730e-uti720e-user-manual-english/
Do not consider the levels of image noise present in those user manual images typical of all thermal cameras with an NETD of 65mK, they are not.
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Thank you very much for the detailed information. Unfortunately, I do not understand the technical details of the devices in this depth. But I have understood that the UTI730E is no longer state of the art and is not a recommendation at this price.
I think I will first test the UTI260B, which offers a good price-performance ratio for a start, as I understand it.
The UTi384G also seems like a good device, but it's far too expensive for me to start with.
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If your budget is limited, just choose UTi260B, which is the most popular thermal camera. Related performance/price rate is quite high.
UTi730E price is 3X+ than that of UTi260B.
If money is not taken from your pocket, then choose UTi730E. Much bigger screen, higher resolution, more functions. When you take 2 camera targeting at same item, it is quite obvious that UTi730 gets much better pictures. I see that University Labs, they prefer UTi730E.
Well, as your requirement is not complicated at all, just for home inspection, no doubt to choose UTi260B. Its performance is enough for this simple requirement. What's more, for PCB inspection requirement later, you just purchase a micro lens, very useful, can see details clearly. See this video:
How to use UTi260B to inspect PCB faulty points easily: https://youtu.be/xNmfwVD8b_I
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"UTI" seriously ?! Another great name/model bloop ....
ha ha ha
rudi
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From low to high, Different prices level target at different customers for varied requirement.
There is no problem on the UNI market orientation.
Entry level, suggest UTi712S, UTi32
Mid level, suggest UTi165A, UTi260B. There is UTi220B, not suggested, price is similar to 260B, but 260B resolution looks much better.
High level, suggest UTi730E. There is UTi720E, but not suggested. Compared 720E and 260B, same resolution, better to view in smaller screen, looks a little better.
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I am considering to use it for machine learning project but I have concerns about the jpeg artifacts. There is a resolution and lossy compression trade-off between 260B and 730e. Does anyone has a picture recorded with 730e, is compression artifacts noticable?
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Hi, I think this video would help you understanding and make comparison ;)
UNI-T Handheld Thermal Cameras UTi32 UTi120MS UTi712S UTi160S UTi260B UTi720E UTi730E Demonstration：
https://youtu.be/PORPy_6xt7Y (https://youtu.be/PORPy_6xt7Y)