Flir made a big splash a couple years ago when it brought thermal imaging to the masses with the Flir One — an infrared camera case designed for smartphones. It was a big hit, and has gotten lots of attention (both good and bad) since its release — but the company isn’t stopping there. Today, the firm is bringing thermal imaging to the skies with the release of the Vue Pro: a compact infrared cam designed specifically for drones.
It’s not the first thermal camera that Flir has ever produced for the UAV market, but Vue Pro definitely has some big improvements over the original model. Not only does it measure and record thermal imaging data from the sky, it also boasts a new image sensor that can shoot in a variety of different resolutions and frame rates — and even allows users to see the footage in real-time.
Flir also made the camera easier to attach to your drone in this iteration, and designed it to be compatible with standard GoPro mounts. This basically means that you can use it with practically any card-carrying drone on the market, since damn near every consumer UAV is designed to accommodate a GoPro nowadays.
Thing is, the Vue Pro isn’t really aimed at hobbyists and other people who just want to play around with thermal imaging. Flir designed it for professional mapping, surveying, and agricultural uses — so it’s got a professional price tag to match. It will set you back anywhere from $2,000 to $4,000 depending on the configuration.
This relatively high price point will likely put Vue Pro out of reach for most consumers, but Flir hopes that the camera will appeal to users who need it for specialized applications — such as firefighters who want to use aerial imagery to find hot spots in burning buildings, or farmers looking to survey their fields to find dehydrated crops.
Flir is set to launch the new camera sometime in November.
