Movies hype thermal imaging where you are able to see the infra red energy that objects radiate. But even that hype is no match for having these devices in hand. Point them around your walls and you can see the studs and where insulations are missing! It is the closest thing to X-ray vision.
Alas, these devices have been extremely expensive. FLIR has been the leader in this market and my FLIR high resolution imager retailed for over $20,000! FLIR recently came up with a back cover for iPhone that turns it into a thermal imager. It composites the native camera and IR images so that you know what you are looking at. It is a pretty bulky solution though: http://flir.com/flirone/
Flir One has been late to market and price is nearly $350. While quite a bit more reasonable than industrial solutions, it is out of the reach of average consumers. And it has really poor resolution at just 4,800 pixels.
A start-up called Seek Thermal hopes to change that equation, rumored to be able to bring the retail price down to $200 to $250. They just released some neat images to show the capabilities of thermal imaging:
As you can see, the technology is remarkable. If someone integrates one into a tablet it will be killer.
Once a broad consumer market is created, I suspect the prices will keep going down. There are low cost sensors but resolution is poor. The Seek Termal is 32,000 pixels total which is what you need to resolve smaller detail. And it is much smaller, plugging into the bottom of the smartphone.
Alas, these devices have been extremely expensive. FLIR has been the leader in this market and my FLIR high resolution imager retailed for over $20,000! FLIR recently came up with a back cover for iPhone that turns it into a thermal imager. It composites the native camera and IR images so that you know what you are looking at. It is a pretty bulky solution though: http://flir.com/flirone/
Flir One has been late to market and price is nearly $350. While quite a bit more reasonable than industrial solutions, it is out of the reach of average consumers. And it has really poor resolution at just 4,800 pixels.
A start-up called Seek Thermal hopes to change that equation, rumored to be able to bring the retail price down to $200 to $250. They just released some neat images to show the capabilities of thermal imaging:
As you can see, the technology is remarkable. If someone integrates one into a tablet it will be killer.
Once a broad consumer market is created, I suspect the prices will keep going down. There are low cost sensors but resolution is poor. The Seek Termal is 32,000 pixels total which is what you need to resolve smaller detail. And it is much smaller, plugging into the bottom of the smartphone.