What features are useful on a camera and which are just “fluff”? This is a question you will likely broach if you’re in the market to purchase an infrared camera. In my 13 years working in this field, I have seen everything from “bare-bones” quality imagers to full-blown everything possible units that are so complicated that the features inhibit use of the imager.
Let’s look at some of the features that some of the manufacturers think we need and determine if they are truly necessary:
- Text entry using the joystick or touchpad to select letters
Which is easier, hunting and pecking around for the right letters or writing on a note pad? The text entry feature saves the text to the image so you cannot lose the notes. But, it is very hard to edit the text later on. Hand written notes are easy to record all required info; image number, location, equipment, and conditions. The downside to hand-written notes is if you misplace your notes before the report is written, the information is lost. So, is this a useful feature? Perhaps for some but in my experience I’ve found it’s not a valuable feature in my own work.
- The auto cold and hotspot on the view screen while on a live image
For some this is a great feature, but for me it can be very distracting with boxes jumping all over the screen. These can normally be added while analyzing the image in the software. So, while we are talking about boxes and points on the screen while scanning a job, do we really need to be able to put all of these on the screen while standing in front of live energized gear? If there’s a suspected problem I’d recommend it’s much safer to save a good, quality image and then, in the comfort of an office, decide if it is really a problem Using this feature excessively adds time in front of live energized gear in some instances so I’d recommend that you use it sparingly.
- Voice annotation recorded to the image
This is a helpful feature but what if you are in and out of noisy environments during the course of your route? Are you going to switch your note taking method? Or, is there background noise that masks your voice to the point where it is a garbled mess? What happens to your notes now? I would suggest if you do purchase a camera with this feature that you pick one note taking method and stay with it and take into consideration the environment you’ll primarily be working in with your camera. If you work often in loud, noisy environments, this feature may not be useful.
- Picture- in- picture
Do we really need this feature in the camera? In the software maybe, but in my opinion it’s not necessarily within the camera. During an inspection we are present in the visual world and can see what the camera is translating from the IR world for us.
- On-board digital camera
If the camera has an integrated flash for the visual image, great! But most image systems do not contain a flash. This makes it extremely difficult to capture a quality visual image in low-light situations. While carrying a digital camera adds another piece of equipment it does the trick and ensures a quality image.
If it is not readily apparent after reading this blog post, I am a firm believer of the KISS principle (Keep It Simple Stupid). Just give me a good quality imager without the “bell and whistles” and I am happy. Don’t get me wrong, for some people the gadgets are great but they are after all, just gadgets.