OMG Thermal!

bigredfish

Known around here
Sep 5, 2016
22,662
60,699
Back in Florida!
New toy,
Its an older (2021?) EOL 5421 Thermal Hybrid (thanks to @erkme73 )
Here's the old spec sheet

I just got it today and just playing around with it. Its really designed for taking temps of groups of people (think 2021 Covid scamdemic).
Not exactly something I need but gee, for my first thermal it sure is cool :cool:

The lens appears to be the 7.5mm Thermal 8mm Visible so not ideal with he close distances I have here at The Swamp. But I'll probably eventually install it at my buddy's place at the goat farm.

There are a shit ton of controls I haven't even begun to understand, should keep me busy for a few weeks :)
Its 2 channels on the NVR but using just one IP address. (I have it on an external switch)

First thermal shots
Bird temp vs water temp
1.jpg 2.jpg

Then a tour boat passed and I happened to be watching, and yes I giggled like a little girl. Not useful, but very cool!
3.jpg

View attachment thermal1.mp4
 
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Is this the one that's 200 bucks on ebay? That post says the focal length is 13mm. I was interested until I saw that, the FOV is too narrow for me. Good to know about the 2 channels part because I'm already maxed on the NVR.
 
Yes. It was $400 then he reduced to $200 because he ran out of the cheaper 2221

It may be 13mm, I was just spitballing.
 
Actually just looking at the specs, it has to be 7.5/8mm as both the visible and thermal lenses are very close to same FOV
 
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Pretty impressive that it had no problem picking up those people at 75+ft (depth of field is deceiving) and reading what looks to be accurate temps.
About 30 ft when it comes by the camera ..

I don’t think it will do that with critters or other? Just humans which is what it’s made for. I’ll have to poke around some more but don’t see any obvious target attributes
 
Another tidbit.

I exported the video clip as an .mp4 from SmartPSS as I always do, it seemed fine. I was able to play it locally. But when I uploaded it here to the forum, it wont play and throws up an error about an unsupported Mime type? I ended up running it through VSDC video editor and exporting it as an mp4 and it works fine. So I need to look into that
 
Here's the Visual lens.
Dont be too critical, I have it aimed too high and its catching light above those tall cypress, and its drizzly and overcast and I was running 1/250 exposure, and its not been optimized at all.

I'll post some better quality examples later in the week. Its comparable to any 2MP 1/2.8 Dahua camera, not bad at all

* No problem with the .mp4 export format with the normal visual channel unlike the thermal channel

View attachment Home_ch13_20240710174954_20240710175110.mp4
 
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BTW- NO IVS or other AI on this firmware. Just old fashioned MD
Now thats not really so bad, because on the thermal lens, its not seeing bugs or waves on the water. So very limited MD hits. We'll see how it goes in daylight tomorrow, but for now with MD OFF on Visual and ON for Thermal, its acceptable.

I see on the Dahua page firmware a year newer... hmmm do i risk it?
 
Those cams must be the thermal cams for Covid-19 temperature measurements old stocks.So Not really need IVS or smart function.
They asked me before if I want, I say no. But use as normal thermal cam they are great. Thousands per one at Covid-19 ‍
 
Yep, 2020-2021 I believe, well over $1000 back then, maybe closer to $2000

The sensitivity is amazing. If I can make the MD work it'll be fine, ot use it in conjunction with another cam with IVS overview. On the thermal channel its not over-sensitive to bugs, trees, shadows etc, like a normal cam.
 
New toy,
Its an older (2021?) EOL 5421 Thermal Hybrid (thanks to @erkme73 )
Here's the old spec sheet

I just got it today and just playing around with it. Its really designed for taking temps of groups of people (think 2021 Covid scamdemic).
Not exactly something I need but gee, for my first thermal it sure is cool :cool:

The lens appears to be the 7.5mm Thermal 8mm Visible so not ideal with he close distances I have here at The Swamp. But I'll probably eventually install it at my buddy's place at the goat farm.

There are a shit ton of controls I haven't even begun to understand, should keep me busy for a few weeks :)
Its 2 channels on the NVR but using just one IP address. (I have it on an external switch)

First thermal shots
Bird temp vs water temp
View attachment 198172 View attachment 198173

Then a tour boat passed and I happened to be watching, and yes I giggled like a little girl. Not useful, but very cool!
View attachment 198174

View attachment 198179


Looking forward to the gater shots
 
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Aha great reading it has no IVS, then i will not buy it.

The spec sheet you linked is wrong
The non -T version has IVS, Fire Detection etc.


Wonder if firmware from Non-T can be used

Can you try ?


Here they call it
  • TPC-BF5421-TB/TD

and here

they have this firmware
DH_TPC-BF5X21-TB_MultiLang_PN_V2.630.0000000.9.R.210804

 
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Aha great reading it has no IVS, then i will not buy it.

The spec sheet you linked is wrong
The non -T version has IVS, Fire Detection etc.


Wonder if firmware from Non-T can be used

Can you try ?


Here they call it
  • TPC-BF5421-TB/TD

and here

they have this firmware
DH_TPC-BF5X21-TB_MultiLang_PN_V2.630.0000000.9.R.210804


Ahhhh good catch , let me investigate
 
Probably so.
I only bought this to experiment with thermal because it was so cheap. With my location I really don’t have the need/space for it. But fun to play with
 
I rode the emotional roller coaster up and down on this. The up part was a thermal camera I could afford, with better resolution (400x300) than Andy's current model (256x192). A higher end camera at half the price! Then reality hit that its horizontal FOV was too tight for my use, 30 deg thermal and 40 deg visual, plus no IVS.

There are several ebay sellers with this camera and they are all model TPC-BF5421-T. The non-T model has IVS and a wider FOV option that would work for me. It also looks to be unobtanium. From Internet searches I'd conclude that it existed only as a spec sheet. If the -T models don't sell and the price comes down to $100 I'd probably get one as a toy, otherwise my only thermal hope is to shag a refurb from Andy.
 
If the -T models don't sell and the price comes down to $100 I'd probably get one as a toy, otherwise my only thermal hope is to shag a refurb from Andy.

You can get 90 degree hFOV at 256x192 resolution for under $500 any day of the week pretty much, between Andy's version and the Hikvision models sold by B&H which are usually a bit cheaper. But that is a bit much for a "just for fun" toy camera.

The 400x300 resolution model for $200 right now from that one ebay seller (with additional volume discounts too!) is the best thermal camera deal I've ever seen (by a fair margin), so the fact it isn't selling fast says a lot about the demand for them. If it had 90 degree hFOV I suspect it would sell a lot better. I probably would have tried to buy 5 already.

I did give in and ordered one of the pan/tilt listing the other day for $400 +shipping +tax (the base price went up $50 since then). It should be here tomorrow evening and I will be sure to report back. No PoE support is a bummer (24v AC power only) but this is a case where beggars can't be choosers.
 
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