The majority of thermal imaging systems have an on-board digital camera. Personally, I think it’s a great addition to IR cameras and many other people do, also. Although this feature is very handy, many of the on-board digital cameras lack one important necessity – a flash. One would think improving the digital image option on cameras shouldn’t be difficult, since I have a 10-megapixel camera with flash on my phone!
The flash option may not seem like a big deal when you’re purchasing a camera, but consider working in a dimly lit MCC room. The bucket you are inspecting, for example, may seem to have plenty of light. You can probably see exactly where the problem is visually. However, do you have enough light for a digital image? You take your thermal and digital images and go on your merry way. When you return to the office to write your report, you adjust all of the infrared images, make the entries into the software, and create your report. As the first page comes up you think to yourself, “The IR image looks great but what happened to the digital?!” It may be nearly black and with no detail or you may not be able to tell what it’s supposed to be.
The next thing to pop into the thermographer’s mind is to go back, re-shoot the digital with a digital camera, and insert it into the report over the images captures from the on-board digital camera. It sounds great, but the site is an hour away (two hours round-trip) to get one image. If you look at most of the images in your report taken with the on-board digital camera, they are probably all sub-par. This means you likely need to retake all of the images so they’re the same quality in the finished report.
Don’t get me wrong, some of the on-board digitals do in fact take great images if the lighting is good. However, there are times in difficult inspection conditions when we forget how much light is needed to get a good image from the on-board digital camera.
I carry a small flash light in my belt pouch and an inexpensive AA battery powered digital camera. I use the flash light when the lighting is questionable to add exposure to the problem area for the on-board digital camera. It works most of the time. The small digital camera in the pouch is a very good back-up. If the images are not needed they can be deleted, but if they are needed you have them. The best use I have found for the small digital camera is to record the information on the door of the enclosure were the problem is contained. Especially if there is no route sheet or equipment list to record the location of the problem. With the image of the door, there is no mistaking what or where the equipment is. While you have your digital camera out to take an image of the door, you might as well take an image of the fault location (never can have too much information or data to work with).
When the infrared image is sufficient to identify the components and the fault location, I often place the image of the door in the report instead of the digital image of the fault. If the operations or maintenance department identify equipment by different means, names, or numbers it helps to avoid any misunderstanding of the location of the faulted equipment. As a traveling service technician this has been the best method to ensure I get quality images to use without having to return to a site. Although infrared camera features have come a long way, the on-board digital camera is one that could use a little help. Taking a small, digital camera along with you on your inspections can save you time, money, and a bunch of hassle.