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Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

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Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#31

Post by lathiat »

tildef wrote: post #11

I used the S62 as a daily driver for a couple of years and it was fairly decent. The convenience of having a thermal camera in your pocket at all times was remarkable, and it's one of those things you kind of miss when it's gone (my daily use for it was checking if the coffee was cool enough to drink--yes, I know my tasting organs provide much of the same functionality...) However, the resolution of the thermal camer…

Using a thermal camera in the kitchen is under-rated. I sometimes do the same.

Was inspired by this old linux.conf.au talk (that I attended in person) about a microwave with a thermal camera in the top. I would love the same above my kitchen stove: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3DADx5z-XY

I'm a die-hard iPhone user so sadly a built-in won't work for me. I currently have a first generation Lightning FLIR One.

It's pretty limited, only a single temperature measurement, no min/max scale you can see (it just auto calibrates), has a terrible rechargable battery and doesn't work with an iPhone case.. but I got it for the bargain basement price of $100 AUD ($67 USD) on Marketplace.

My interest is more related to home effeciency (looking at gaps in insulation etc) but has been fun in the kitchen too.

I'd love one of the newer ones but haven't wanted to justify the cost and happy with my bargain aquisiton :)

Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#32

Post by ShakataGaNai »

You can get FLIR One cameras with Lightning and USB-C (for iPhone and Android respectively) for $300. https://www.amazon.com/FLIR-ONE-Thermal-Imaging-Camera/dp/B0...

It isn't as good as the FLIR on the Cat phone, but if you're one of those people going "Man, having a FLIR around the house would be cool" - this is the solution for you. And it will outlive your phone...so long as you don't change "sides" in the OS Wars.

Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#33

Post by lathiat »

51Cards wrote: post #9

Oddly enough I just bought a used Blackview BV9800 Pro phone today purely for the FLIR camera in it. At $140 CAD it was much much cheaper than any of the off the shelf new FLIR options.

That was a steal, a little better a value proposition than my $100 AUD / $92 CAD / $67 USD first generation Flir One (lightning port plug-in for iPhone).

Where did you score it for that price, marketplace, eBay?

Though even the $500 AUD odd going rate on eBay is pretty good given the cost of any of the devices with a screen built-in.

Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#35

Post by anigbrowl »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #10
vardump wrote: post #3

No mention about thermal camera resolution, even in the "Full Tech Specs". Although it does mention it's using FLIR Lepton 3.5 sensor. Seems to be 9 fps at 160x120. [0] [0]: https://www.digikey.com/en/product-highlight/f/flir/lepton-3...

IR cameras tend to be very low-res (or very expensive). Looks like they have some kind of computational photography pipeline processing, to enhance the IR image. You can get FLIR modules for most smartphones (Android and iOS). Not sure I'd buy a phone, just for the camera.

I wonder if it's possible to take multiple low-res cameras and combine their output in an array...mainly because I have a source for affordable but very low-res (32x24) thermal cameras.

Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#36

Post by pimlottc »

theCrowing wrote: post #16
andrewia wrote: post #4

This phone has been out since Spring 2022. Any reason for the post? If we want to talk about the utility of a thermal camera, I found it neat. I used a $150 Seek camera to diagnose poor insulation in my bedroom, and one contractor even offered free advice over email since the images were clear enough. I've also used it to find hot ICs on a PCB. The resolution of these lower cost modules isn't great, which you can see…

Linus used it in his last video.

Linus Torvalds? He has videos?

Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#38

Post by tildef »

andrewia wrote: post #4

This phone has been out since Spring 2022. Any reason for the post? If we want to talk about the utility of a thermal camera, I found it neat. I used a $150 Seek camera to diagnose poor insulation in my bedroom, and one contractor even offered free advice over email since the images were clear enough. I've also used it to find hot ICs on a PCB. The resolution of these lower cost modules isn't great, which you can see…

It's actually even older--August 2020 according to GSM arena (https://www.gsmarena.com/cat_s62_pro-10358.php) Got mine not long after. Kind of surprised to see it make the HN front page in AD 2022.

Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#39

Post by Gigachad »

lathiat wrote: post #31
tildef wrote: post #11

I used the S62 as a daily driver for a couple of years and it was fairly decent. The convenience of having a thermal camera in your pocket at all times was remarkable, and it's one of those things you kind of miss when it's gone (my daily use for it was checking if the coffee was cool enough to drink--yes, I know my tasting organs provide much of the same functionality...) However, the resolution of the thermal camer…

Using a thermal camera in the kitchen is under-rated. I sometimes do the same. Was inspired by this old linux.conf.au talk (that I attended in person) about a microwave with a thermal camera in the top. I would love the same above my kitchen stove: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3DADx5z-XY I'm a die-hard iPhone user so sadly a built-in won't work for me. I currently have a first generation Lightning FLIR One. It's…

You can buy a stove that uses probes to monitor the temps and hold/stick to a preset program https://www.breville.com/us/en/products/commercial/cmc850.ht...

I can't wait for these to become more mainstream so recipes start listing "Set stove to 150c" rather than "to medium" which is widely different depending on what stove you use. An amusing story one youtuber shared was the followed some advice that said to set your stove to high and leave it for 10 mins first, advice meant for a gas stove. When they tried it on an electric stove, the oil ignited on contact with the pan.

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