Families of high-speed and high-resolution thermal science cameras released

Teledyne FLIR has released two families of X-Series science cameras, the X858x and X698x, providing high-speed and high-resolution thermal imaging abilities for scientific research and engineering applications within the MWIR and LWIR spectrum.

The cameras provide advanced recording, triggering, and synchronisation capabilities. This comprises remotely adjusting the focus, enhancing the quality of thermal data acquisition whilst saving time and removing frustration when operating within dynamic environments.

Users can then seamlessly transfer the data from the onboard SSD to a computer for processing and analysis, executed through FLIR Research Studio or the FLIR Science Camera SDK. This simplified experience allows users to immediately access a local copy of the data, providing in-the-moment data review and analysis. The cameras also support long-duration recordings, limited only by the onboard, off-the-shelf SSD size. This feature eradicates the requirement for high-speed data recording systems for some users, potentially saving considerable time and costs on extra hardware and integration.

“The new X858x and X698x families of FLIR X-Series cameras are the most flexible, high-performance models in the FLIR scientific camera lineup to date,” said Desmond Lamont, global business development manager for Teledyne FLIR. “In addition to enabling more precise and convenient thermal data capture with programmatic lens control, the cameras include the ability to record directly to the onboard SSD, meaning users can rapidly configure their cameras to record for long durations without the need to invest in or integrate frame grabber-based recording systems. This feature greatly increases the utility of X-series cameras where longer timescale data capture is paramount and can save the user tens of thousands of dollars in budget, in addition to offering an overall smaller size and weight footprint for the total system.”

Each new camera also incorporates a dedicated trigger input on the rear panel and a new Tri-level Sync input, providing easy access to all methods of recording and synchronisation across multiple camera units and types. This affords greater flexibility for user-specific recording requirements. Each model includes an integrated, four-position filter wheel combined with motorised lens support. The wheel can be loaded with neutral density or spectral filters that further improve recording quality while saving time and mitigating frustration, especially when the camera is in a remote location.

The X858x camera family features a cooled thermal camera core with a high-definition resolution (1280 x 1084) and a 180Hz frame rate to capture the most refined data imagery. The X698x cameras provide a 640 x 512 thermal resolution with a greater than 1kHz frame rate to capture stop motion high-speed events – whether in the lab or the test range.