HN Explorer

19 comments

[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 52.6 ms ] thread
colincooke
As someone who has used FLIR cameras, and other industrial imaging systems I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand the continued concentration of specialist camera tech is bad for the market (FLIR a few years ago acquired point grey [0], a competitor). On the other hand given my poor experience with FLIR systems (bad software, bad interfacing) if that continues it might be a good opportunity for a newcomer to shake things up.

[0]: https://investors.flir.com/news-releases/news-release-detail...

lbotos
Appreciate you sharing your experience -- I've been considering a FLIR cam, did you find a better alternative?
colincooke
Yeah there is nothing comperable. For those with infared needs we're mostly stuck
jbay808
https://thinklucid.com/

This is a new company created by a bunch of ex- Point Grey engineers who left FLIR. They're worth keeping an eye on.

lhpz
Seek Thermal is an alternative provider for thermal cameras: https://www.thermal.com/
wlesieutre
I like how their phone accessory Seek Compact camera is advertised as having “< 9 Hz frame rate.” I’m sure it’s fine but that’s a strange way of listing it.
sepples
That's actually a "feature" for IR cameras because 9+ FPS brings it into a different category for export control.
wlesieutre
Huh, interesting! It makes sense in that context.

Having never tried one of these, I wonder if they take that slow camera stream and do higher framerate image stabalization on the phone to make it less jerky when hand-held.

RyJones
Not really. GP’s remarks about software quality are spot on.
immmmmm
If your ready paying your camera the price of a small car, Xenics has a few alternatives that work well. They also have a support team who replies to your questions.

It's important to note that some technologies (Micro-bolometers, InGaAs) have export restrictions due to applications for weapons systems, etc..

exmadscientist
Well that's discouraging. I always hate having to interact with any Teledyne company. They're not quite down to Danaher/Fortive's level, but they seem to do their best to try. FLIR, in contrast, was merely obscenely expensive.
[dead] mrtweetyhack
FLIR is an aweful company. This is coming from a customer. Don't buy a FLIR.
Th3MadScientist
If you are going to report on FLIR, at least pronounce the name correctly. It's pronounced "fleer".
gaudat
Is there an official source about this?

I thought it sounds like "fur" with an L. Or FLIR is an abbreviation of something and it should be pronounced as individual letters.

By the way, English is a bad language to write pronunciation of words in. I had a hard time not to make the "/ɛ/" sound when seeing "ee".