What is the difference between thermal imaging and night vision?

night vision and thermal imaging

Let’s start with a little background. Our eyes see reflected light. Daylight cameras, night vision devices, and the human eye all work on the same basic principle. When light energy hits something and bounces off it, a detector then receives it and turns it into an image.

Whether an eyeball, or in a camera, these detectors must receive enough light or they can’t make an image. However, there isn’t any sunlight at night so they’re limited to the light provided by starlight, moonlight and artificial lights. If there isn’t enough, they won’t do much to help you see.

Thermal imaging cameras

Thermal imagers are altogether different. In fact, we call them “cameras” but they are really sensors. To understand how they work, you have to forget everything you thought you knew about how cameras make pictures. 

FLIRs make pictures from heat, not light so cameras that can detect visible light won’t see thermal energy, vice versa.

Thermal cameras detect more than just heat. They detect tiny differences in heat and display them as shades of grey or with different colors. This can be a tricky idea to get across, and many people just don’t understand the concept, here’s an explanation.

thermal imaging

Everything we encounter in our day-to-day lives gives off thermal energy, even ice. The hotter something is the more thermal energy it emits. This emitted thermal energy is called a “heat signature.” When two objects next to one another have even subtly different heat signatures, they show up quite clearly to a FLIR regardless of lighting conditions.

Thermal energy comes from a combination of sources, depending on what you are viewing at the time. Some things – warm-blooded animals (including people!), engines, and machinery, for example – create their own heat, either biologically or mechanically. Other things – land, rocks, buoys, vegetation – absorb heat from the sun during the day and emits it during the night.

While all this can seem rather complex, the reality is that modern thermal cameras are extremely easy to use. Their imagery is clear and easy to understand, requiring no training or interpretation. If you can watch TV, you can use a FLIR thermal camera. 

 

 

Night vision devices

night vision

Those greenish pictures we see in the movies and on TV come from night vision goggles (NVGs) or other devices that use the same core technologies. NVGs take in small amounts of visible light, magnify it greatly, and project that on a display.

Cameras made from NVG technology have the same limitations as the naked eye: if there isn’t enough visible light available, they can’t see well. The imaging performance of anything that relies on reflected light depends on the amount of the light being reflected.

NVG and other lowlight cameras are not very useful during twilight hours. Because there is too much light to work effectively, but not enough light for you to see. Thermal cameras aren’t affected by light, so they can display clear pictures even when you are looking into the setting sun. In fact, you can aim a spotlight at a FLIR and still get a perfect picture.

Infared cameras

I2 cameras try to generate their own reflected light by projecting a beam of near-infrared energy that their imager can see when it bounces off an object. This works to a point, but I2 cameras still rely on reflected light to make an image. So they have the same limitations as any other night vision camera that depends on reflected light energy – short range, and poor contrast. 

Contrast

All of these visible light cameras – daylight cameras, NVG cameras, and I2 cameras – work by detecting reflected light energy. But the amount of reflected light they receive is not the only factor that determines whether or not you’ll be able to see with these cameras: image contrast matters, too.

If you’re looking at something with lots of contrast compared to its surroundings, you’ll have a better chance of seeing it with a visible light camera. If it doesn’t have good contrast, you won’t see it well, no matter how bright the sun is shining. A white object seen against a dark background has lots of contrast. A darker object, however, will be hard for these cameras to see against a dark background. This is called having poor contrast. At night, when the lack of visible light naturally decreases image contrast, visible light camera performance suffers even more.

Thermal imagers don’t have any of these shortcomings. First, they have nothing to do with reflected light energy: they see heat. Everything you see in normal daily life has a heat signature. This is why you have a much better chance of seeing something at night with a thermal imager than you do with visible light camera, even a night vision camera.

In fact, many of the objects you could be looking for, like people, generate their own contrast because they generate their own heat. Thermal imagers can see them well because they don’t just make pictures from heat; they make pictures from the minute differences in heat between objects.

Night vision devices have the same drawbacks that daylight and lowlight TV cameras do: they need enough light, and enough contrast to create usable images. Thermal imagers, on the other hand, see clearly day and night, while creating their own contrast. Without a doubt, thermal cameras are the best 24-hour imaging option.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

About Us

The average home owner or prospective user definitely lacks the technical expertise needed to properly identify and choose the CCTV cable that is most suitable for his needs. Consequently, the intervention of a consulting firm that is capable of guiding the prospective clients in making the right decision is therefore by all means necessary. 

CCTVSG.net is an example of such a company. It basically tests, evaluates and guides consumers in purchasing the right surveillance equipment. To get started, you can visit our website CCTVSG.net or Contact Us is all that is necessary.  A member of its customer care department is always on standby and very eager to receive any incoming inquiries and act on them soonest possible.

CCTV Singapore Network, Best CCTV Provider