Learning thermal imaging

[Load Factor]

Hello all! I just got my part 107 about a month ago and I am looking to do a career change into thermal imaging. Are there any good books or videos to read or watch to help to learn a little bit before taking the certification course?

 

[Gagey52]

Welcome to the forum from the land of Oz. Sorry lidar not in my grab bag. I sure that a search on this forum and you-tube will get in the right direction
Regards

 

[TreeLineView]

Hello all! I just got my part 107 about a month ago and I am looking to do a career change into thermal imaging. Are there any good books or videos to read or watch to help to learn a little bit before taking the certification course?

Welcome to the forum and congrats on getting your 107. Thermal is a great field to get into, but has a heavy startup cost and a learning curve. I started out similar to you. New and not sure where how to approach. I started by purchasing a Flir handheld camera and downloading the free tuning/reporting software. You have to understand the science behind Thermography and interpreting images/video before you can confidently sell a product to your customer. Hit Youtube and watched many videos on Thermal Radiation and took tons of pictures with the camera to view/tune and interpret. I mean pictures of everything from my pets to the food at the deli counter at the store. Even helped a neighbor locate a leak in his ceiling. The more Thermogram images you take and interpret, the more you will learn. I then took a Thermography course at Flir and came up with a business strategy. Worked my way up starting with used equipment as I went along. Lots more I am glad to share if you want to PM me. John

 

[Load Factor]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on getting your 107. Thermal is a great field to get into, but has a heavy startup cost and a learning curve. I started out similar to you. New and not sure where how to approach. I started by purchasing a Flir handheld camera and downloading the free tuning/reporting software. You have to understand the science behind Thermography and interpreting images/video before you can confidently sell a product to your customer. Hit Youtube and watched many videos on Thermal Radiation and took tons of pictures with the camera to view/tune and interpret. I mean pictures of everything from my pets to the food at the deli counter at the store. Even helped a neighbor locate a leak in his ceiling. The more Thermogram images you take and interpret, the more you will learn. I then took a Thermography course at Flir and came up with a business strategy. Worked my way up starting with used equipment as I went along. Lots more I am glad to share if you want to PM me. John

Thanks for the feedback. I was looking into buying a FLIR C5 handheld and an ipad to start to learn. Is the C5 a good place to start and are there any specific people on YouTube to follow?

 

[TreeLineView]

Thanks for the feedback. I was looking into buying a FLIR C5 handheld and an ipad to start to learn. Is the C5 a good place to start and are there any specific people on YouTube to follow?

Yes, goo place to start. They are great little imagers. I have the C2 which is probably half the pixels you will have. You can download the Flir Tools for free unless they provide a free subscription to their new software Thermal Studio. Remember, this works best in a controlled environment, meaning indoors. temp, wind speed, Thermal Reflect, humidity are all usually level set. Have fun. I am starting to work on some training videos as there are not really a lot of them out there, but you can look. Mine will be mostly customer facing, but I think you will get a lot out of them. Will post as I create them.

 

[Load Factor]

Yes, goo place to start. They are great little imagers. I have the C2 which is probably half the pixels you will have. You can download the Flir Tools for free unless they provide a free subscription to their new software Thermal Studio. Remember, this works best in a controlled environment, meaning indoors. temp, wind speed, Thermal Reflect, humidity are all usually level set. Have fun. I am starting to work on some training videos as there are not really a lot of them out there, but you can look. Mine will be mostly customer facing, but I think you will get a lot out of them. Will post as I create them.

The thermal studio software has a limited free version and two paid versions. The more you pay the more features it gives you. I'm not sure what the difference is between FLIR tools and the thermal studio but I'm going to look into it

 

[TreeLineView]

Flir tools were there initial tools set. The free version allowed for thermal tuning and basic templates for report. Flir Tools+ allowed for you to import MS word templates into the program. The introduction of Thermal Studio about two years ago, did away with the need of MS word for all the template features. Also introduced some cool tools, like batch processing to modify many images at once. Also allowed for working with SEQ video files. Attached is a recent report with basic Thermal Tools. Any of the free versions will allow you to build your knowledge. Enjoy! Oops can't seem to attach a PDF. Feel free to PM me an email address and I will be glad to share what a deliverable report looks like

 

[kshaw]

One of our local community colleges has a course in as part of their Drone certificate program. So check the local colleges in your area. I plan on taking the course but they are filling up almost as soon as they are announced.