Seek Thermal challenges you to see the unseen

Sep 30, 2014 08:16 GMT  ·  By

A while back in one of our previous pieces, we told you that people were starting to abandon the allure of the “selfie” and reorient their attention towards a new photographic trend, the “thermie” or if you prefer this term better, the “hottie.”

A hottie is when you take a picture of the heat emanating from your body, using an infrared camera that usually attaches to the back of the camera, but such a snapper can be used for other purposes.

Maybe you’ve been hiking all day and you stopped for the night at a remote abandoned lodge and you hear some movement in the bushes outside. With the help of a thermal camera you will be able to determine whether there’s a ferocious predator lurking about or not and whether it’s the case you go to bed.

The Seek Thermal is light and relatively cheap

The Seek Thermal is one such camera that you can mount on your smartphone and go ahead and see the unseen. The snapper is compatible with iOS and Android phones and is made of magnesium. It can be attached to your handset via an USB dock and weighs just 14 g / 0.03 lbs.

According to the company manufacturing the camera, the Sleek Thermal uses 7.2 to 13 micron long-wave infrared range and can detect temperatures ranging from -40º C to 330º C (-40º F to 626º F).

Unlike night vision camera system, the Seek Thermal does not operate by enhancing low-light conditions, but actually detects and turns singular heat patterns into viable images.

The camera works hand-in-hand with an app that allows users to switch between normal viewing mode and thermal mode by virtue of a single swipe. It also allows users to choose between four different temperature measurement modes, and if you set certain temperature parameters, it will highlight the objects contained in these standards.

To make things more evident and easily understandable, users are invited to choose between nine different color palettes.

Seek Thermal is designed to enhance security, among others

Seek Thermal hasn’t been designed for “thermies” or “hotties,” but has a greater purpose in mind. It wants to act like a system helping with improving security, detecting people or animals in the dark or spotting heat leakages around the house.

The Seek Thermal camera is currently available for purchase in the US with a quite affordable $199 / €157 price tag, and considering most thermal cameras out there are quite bulky and expensive, it’s worth a shot.

The company behind Seek Thermal also plans to introduce a dev kit next year to allow third parties to create apps for the device.

Seek Thermal in Action (13 Images)

Seek Thermal is a camera smartphone attachment
Android smartphone with Seek Thermal attachedSeek Thermal detecting wild animals
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