FLUKE image clarity(Ti-32)?

I use the high contrast rainbow for most of my images because they are easiest for clients to understand and look good on the report(my opinion). I’ve noticed my FLUKE having a hard time providing a really clear image without alot of frequency noise in many conditions.

If I’m using high contrast and point towards the oven coils, stove burners, furnace burners or anything really hot than my image becomes so static filled that I can’t even get the shot. I often find myself pointing the camera away to adjust the image than pointing it back and immediately capturing the image before the image becomes to static filled.

I realize you sacrifice some image clarity when you opt for a 60hz camera but I’m wondering if this is a FLUKE issue, or just my camera, or if all the 60hz cameras give off these static filled images?

I find this to be quite irritating and sorta feel like the camera shouldn’t be 60hz if it can’t keep up in providing a clean image.

Has anybody found any specific settings that help relieve some of the image noise?

I’m still very satisfied with the FLUKE Ti-32 and have no regrets in buying it but It would surely be alot nicer without the static.

Do you have the camera set in manual or auto?

I use both. I’ll often keep it in manual and constantly hit the adjust button when I’m doing stuff outdoors or where there’s lots of temp. variations.

Keeping it in manual helps but it isn’t the solution.

I am not following you are you talking about saturation on your images Static is not in my vocabulary I don’t think your camera is rated for the high temps of a furnace burner or electric heat element the image will go into saturation immediately perhaps were not on the same page

Brandon,

Could you please post an image that you believe is “static” filled.
It would help us in helping you.

I’m sorry for not providing the exact term for what I’m trying to say but “grainy” “static filled” “noisy” is the best I can explain it.

My FLIR has never had any “grainyness” to any of the images so I’m trying to figure if it’s a FLUKE thing, a 60hz thing, or a my camera only thing?

I’m not saying I can’t get crystal clear images with the FLUKE, but I just have to change the palette given the conditions. The FLIR never showed any grainy images but then again it wasn’t 60hz.

These are a couple images I just took of some lights. These images are only in the 400 degree range so it gets alot worse but you should be able to see what I’m talking about.

IR005304.jpg

IR005304.jpg

IR005645.jpg

IR005648.jpg

IR005320.jpg

[FONT=Arial]The Fluke Ti32 and TiR32 thermal imagers are extremely[/FONT]
sensitive devices that can detect temperature differences ≤50mK
(0.05 °C). They allow minimum spans as low as 2 °C in many
operating modes. Special palettes and palette modes are also
offered in order to enhance and highlight very small thermal
differences in a scene. In addition, optional telephoto and wide
angle lenses are available to further enhance the anomaly
detecting capability of the imagers. Every effort is undertaken
to produce a high quality, and radiometrically accurate
infrared image under as many circumstances as possible.
However, there are often extreme use situations under which
the infrared energy being emitted from a target of interest is so
small that the imager reaches the limits of the physical (physics)
properties, which govern its operation. Using the imager under
these circumstances, can at times result in the appearance of
light rings or a halo on the infrared image. This is completely
normal. Although it is possible for Fluke to mitigate these
artifacts by artificially adding electronic noise and additional
processing to the infrared signal, we have chosen not to do so
in order to preserve the extreme sensitivity of the instrument. If
any of these artifacts do appear in your properly focused
infrared image, please be assured that it is only because there is
not enough of a thermal differential in the scene to indicate the
presence of an anomaly or issue. (In essence, the imager is so
sensitive, that it is “seeing itself” optically, radiometrically,
and electronically.) Typically, increasing span, changing color
palette, or introducing a thermal differential into the scene will
eliminate the appearance of any artifacts, and will still allow
the appropriate interpretation of the infrared image.

All thermal imagers require appropriate warm-up time in order
to obtain the most accurate temperature measurement and best
image quality. This time can often vary by model and by
environmental conditions. Although most imagers are fully
warmed-up within 3-5 minutes, it is always a best practice to
wait at least 10 minutes if the most accurate temperature
measurement is critical to your application. Whenever changing
or adding optional lenses, additional stabilization time may be
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Arial]required depending on the situation.[/FONT][/FONT]

Brandon why dont you use a different pallette and adjust it to pull out what you want, like a stain for example.

Quit whining about your camera. I messed with Waynes tir32 last night and that thing spanks mine away… Amazing clarity.

I stated that I do use a different palette to obtain the image I want.

I’m not really “whining” about my camera. Like I said, I’d buy another one had I to do it over again. I’m just inquiring about a concern that some others may or may not be experiencing.

Good sell me yours… :stuck_out_tongue:

The Ti32 can handle the temp as it is rated for up to around 1200 degrees F. I have used my Ti32 for some extreme temps and not had any problems. You do have to watch for the camera calibrating itself continuously and you may be having a problem with the oven temperature variations. Opening an oven that is reading 400 degrees takes seconds for the temperature to start dropping. The next time I am in a home without my customers hanging on my back I will break out my Ti and see what happens.

Brandon,

At what temperature does it start at?
Forgive me if this is a no-brainer question but
what is your range set at for these images?

I am not that familiar with the Fluke Ti32 but I can
change ranges on my Flir T400

Hey Jeff,

The temp range doesn’t have to be adjusted on the TI32. It’s good from 0 up to 1200 degrees.

As you can see in the images above, one of the really grainy images is from a light only putting off 200+ degrees.

I’m a bit surprised or actually very surprised that nobody really has a clue what I’m talking about.

I understand all the science behind what causes certain things such as the rings and even what can cause a loss in image quality when using a 60hz camera.

I appreciate those who have in-fact tried to help but I wasn’t really seeking scientific explanations or text book answers of what can cause loss of clarity in thermal imaging as a whole. I’m aware of what the possible causes are.

I was hoping to get some input from some folks who have some experience using the TI32 and who also have experience using other brands of cameras in the same class so I could determine - once again - “Is it a FLUKE thing, a 60 hz thing, or a my particular camera thing?”

If someone buys the TI32 for their first camera or has a lower res. FLUKE camera than of course the image clarity of the TI32 is going to seem awesome. The TI32 does provide an awesome image. I’m simply stating that I deal with alot of grainy images and the need for palette changes with the FLUKE that I never experienced with the FLIR B400. Oh well!

I wasn’t trying to step on anybodies toes or come across like I was whining about my camera or complaining about FLUKE. I’m a big fan of what FLUKE offers. I just wanted to know if any folks had bought the TI32 and noticed any of the grainy images as compared to their previous camera(of the same class).

I could pick up a new FLIR and be able to tell you within 90 seconds if the images act the same way as my FLUKE. I don’t have a new FLIR. I didn’t see the harm in discussing the concern and asking if any others had similar concerns.

I guess I’ll figure it out soon enough when I get the opportunity to try out one of the new FLIR’s.

Jeff, sorry for posting all this in your message quote. Anything after the 2 answers to your questions weren’t really directed towards you so please don’t take it that way. I realize your trying to help and I appreciate it.:cool:

I just got a the 32 i will try a oven this am and let you know Brandon

Thanks Wayne! If you can use rainbow high contrast and take some images of light bulbs or anything over 250 degrees than that would tell me alot!

Basically I’m interested in seeing if your rainbow high contrast images look about like the ones I posted.

Whatever images you take than I’m going to try and reproduce and see if there’s any difference. This would definitely give me alot of the answers I’m curious about.

I call the fuzzy images “maggot infested”.
try adjusting the thermal span either greater diff or less
eg. 50-70 deg. f to 30 to 85 deg. f or 50-70 deg. f to 58 deg. f to 68 deg.
:slight_smile:

Interesting…

You say you understand all the sciences behind what causes certain things…
Seems to me that range, span and level is one of the first things you learn (even in John McKenna’s course).

Palette construction is designed for a particular response within certain levels of the span. Just because you like to use high-resolution rainbow (which generally has the least clarity because minor differences from pixel to pixel causes the appearance of graininess.)

Automatic range adjustment from -4°F to 1112°F in one swoop is a bit much for building application. Thus the reason for different cameras for different purposes.

You are overcoming the camera’s automatic adjustment. When you have an automatic range camera, it is going to do what it was programmed to do. Look at the difference between your B 400 and T 400 ranges. Why do you suppose the range is much smaller in a B camera than a T camera? It has nothing to do with the price or quality of the camera. It is about what you’re going to use it for.

As you don’t seem to want people’s opinion or to be taught science, I recommend that you call Fluke and have them explain it to you and have them check out your camera. I don’t know why you’re wasting your time here.

I have seen this thing before with this camera. It can really make that camera useless when you’re trying to look at a water spot behind a light fixture, can’t it?

Someone told you to adjust the span. If you widen the span, the graininess goes away because it changes the span of adjacent pixels to a similar color and makes it look more even.

If you go from high rainbow to standard rainbow there is much less grain.

All the answers you need have been given here. You’re just trying to make the camera do something is not capable of doing and appear pleasing to the eye.

[size=2]The reason for different Palettes is to make things show up differently. One size doesn’t fit all.

[size=2]There are programs that will [/size][/size]manipulate the Palettes the way you want them.

Wayne,
I hope you don’t put that camera in the oven!!

I don’t know if you have a problem with your camera or not and not be able to tell you unless I saw other pictures in different palettes. What I will tell you off the bat is that you are using a HIGH CONTRAST palette which is designed to accentuate temperature differences. High contrast palette is a modern derivative of the older medical palettes that came with older production imagers. Each manufacturer varies on how many colors they use in their gradients to develop a palette. Some are 16, 32, 150, 255 different colors to form a gradient. The less colors you have, the wider the temperature range is assigned to each color to form the image that you see. Obviously a 16 color palette will look a lot grainier than a palette that uses 256 colors to form the gradient. The problem with more colors though is that subtle temperature variations can go unnoticed because our eyes can’t distinguish between the different shades of color when there are that many present.

When you take an image with a wide temperature span, you are asking a palette with limited amounts of color to span temperature ranges that are pretty far apart. I suspect that if you use that palette for something that has a smaller temperature elevation over the surrounding sources, you will not see such a dramatic pixelization effect in the image.

I don’t know how many RGB colors that Fluke uses in their high contrast palette, but I know FLIR uses 150 for their baseline gradient, not including isotherms. I don’t have a copy of the Fluke software on my laptop to look at the files, but if you want me to look at the palette, you can send me the file that is probably buried deep in the program files.

Like I said, I can’t tell if it’s your camera or not, but I suspect it is not. I believe you are expecting too much out of the software in the imager and analysis software. Use the palette for images with closer temperature spans and lower delta T’s and see if you get the same results.

I think Sean is right in the money. That’s exactly the type of image I would expect from a high contrast pallet.