Anyone here know the magic words to find information on actual infrared cameras, NOT the nightvision scopes/goggles with infrared illumination? I've been trying to get a decent IR camera for on-the-cheap thermal imaging -- I don't need a live video feed out of it.

I actually use the FLIR T360 at work. We use it to trouble shoot roller trains on Offset Wide Web printing presses, bearings, ect..

http://www.flir.com/thermography/eurasia/en/content/?id=11394

Disclaimer: I know next to nothing about photography.

This seems to have some good info. Apparently you just need an IR filter for your lens, and to remove/replace the anti-IR filter present in most digital cameras.
Or, you can use a long exposure time and just get an IR filter.
http://www.wrotniak.net/photo/infrared/

Edit: After reading some more, I'm not sure this would be considered "on the cheap" either. You're looking at a few hundred dollars just to remove the anti-IR filter from most cameras. The one exception listed at http://www.wrotniak.net/photo/infrared/slr.html is the Sigma SD14, which will run you about $700--supposedly you can remove the anti-IR filter yourself from that one.

Edit2: Apparently thermography is not quite the same as IR photography. The CCD and CMOS sensors used for visible light cameras are sensitive only to the nonthermal part of the infrared spectrum called near-infrared (NIR), but not to the part of infrared spectrum useful for thermal imaging (mid- and long-wavelength infrared), so most thermal imaging cameras use specialized focal plane arrays (FPAs) that respond to longer wavelengths.

FLIR has a bunch of buildings next to one of our clients at the company I just left. Looking out the windows I got to see some demos of some pretty hard core thermal imaging cameras.

It was always a little eerie, though... looking out across the parking lot and seeing a bunch of FLIR cameras pointed at the building, wondering if they were looking at me in my underwear at that moment.

Your clothes are approximately the same temperature as you and your own IR emissions are filtered through them, so your package and love handles are safe!

My local Penn Camera still stocks and develops infrared film, you probably would save a lot of money just getting a quality SLR and shooting the way neanderthals used to take infrared pictures.

*edit* Your post is a little confusing - do you need infrared photography or videograpy?

the see through your clothes tech currently requires microwaves of a certain length, and involves booths that you go into and hold still while the camera does a pass by.

I.E. don't worry about it unless you are passing through checkpoints without getting a full pat down.

They have backscatter X-rays (and possibly microwaves now, although that's technically more difficult) which can scan large rooms, but that also requires an installation as opposed to man-portable machinery.


I am looking to do thermal imaging, ie, getting an infrared image of an area, not making movies or nightvision or anything. It's mostly to track electrical (and thus heat) dissipation in walls and buildings, I just don't want to spend thousands on it.

So why not get a cheap SLR on ebay and a box of film?

My work refuses to use thermal imaging for breaker/motor control centers due to the unreliability of the information obtained by the cameras themselves. Honestly good upkeep and preventive maintenance goes a long ways.

Although we do have a special nikon camera with a super duper upgrade to the comera's internal software (also has IR filter) that we use for thermal imaging of the reformer tubes which sit at about 1500-1700 degress. When there are 400+ tubes it is so much easier to take pictures of them that shoot them individually.

Ohh and btw thermography camera