Link-Card brand 640 and 1280 LWIR thermal cameras - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: figment
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 27, 2025, 03:43:04 pm
content: Has anyone heard of a China company selling thermal cameras called link-card.com?https://en.link-card.com/I'm considering purchasing their 640 and1280 cameras for a project but it has been a tedious process getting the required information from them.Link to their Aliexpress storehttps://www.aliexpress.com/store/1100971021/pages/all-items.html?shop_sortType=price_descThey have a 1280x1024 camera with 50mm lens but I need a wider FOV lens. I wanted to get the lens requirements from them and provide to Ophir to match up an Ophir lens to the Link-Card 1280 camera.https://en.link-card.com/I email a list of direct questions, a day later I get one answer. I resend the list of unanswered questions, I get one answer back. This has been going on for 2-weeks.Can anyone help me put into words, what dimensions I need to provide Ophir to match one of their LWIR lenses to these Chinese cameras?thanks

author: figment
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 05, 2025, 11:26:39 am
content: No one has any comment? Really?

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 05, 2025, 12:08:28 pm
content: Let that be a warning for youShenzhen Lingka Technology Co.Ltd Are not a known supplier of thermal imaging cores in the West. You buy their products at your own risk and need to carry out due diligence on whether they will supply the technical support that you need in your application. It is not possible to gauge the quality and reliability of Shenzhen Lingka Technology Co.Ltd as a company, or that of its products, from web sites. Some Chinese companies turn out to be small teams working out of rented offices reselling products under their brand !My first thoughts were that they are just rebadging the products of OEM’s who are known and respected in the thermal imaging core manufacturing industry but I could not find evidence of this.You will need to contact Shenzhen Lingka Technology Co.Ltd and discuss your needs, what they can offer you in terms of English language software and support and take your chances that they actually sell a decent product. Ask them for sample images from the product that you are interested in. With other, well known, Chinese thermal imaging core manufacturers such as Infiray and Guide Sensmart offering decent products, I personally would not buy from an unknown (in the West) company. Glossy web pages mean nothing in the real World.Fraser

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 05, 2025, 12:17:29 pm
content: The company profile from their web pages……..“Shenzhen Lingka Technology Co.Ltd. was founded in 2014, is a high-tech enterprise focusing on audio and video, AI intelligent image field. The company has the title of "High-tech Enterprise" and "Regulated Enterprise". Since the company was founded, the company has developed and produced micro-optical/infrared thermal imaging products, wireless mapping products, audio/video capture/encoder and other products, which are widely used in the field of military industry and industrial equipment. As a professional design company, Lingka Technology has been actively investing capital, equipment and manpower in R&D for many years to developand manufacture advanced and professional audio and video products. In 2020, we established a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lingka Image Equipment (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. and registered the trademark "lingka" in the U.S. and the European Union to promote sales in the domestic and international mainstream e-commerce platforms, realizing a comprehensive coverage in Taobao, Aliexpress, Amazon.”That company profile reads like a company that is basically a “Technology Startup” business that is trying to find a market for its products. The last line says it all for me….. Taobao, Aliexpress and Amazon as shop fronts.

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 05, 2025, 12:37:10 pm
content: Do a Google search on “Shenzhen Lingka Technology Co.Ltd” and see how much market visibility it has. Make sure you spell Lingka right as there are other similarly named companies.At the end of the day, it is your money, to do with as you please.

author: DaneLaw
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 05, 2025, 02:06:17 pm
content: Quote from: figment on February 27, 2025, 03:43:04 pmsadly don't see any products in that store.completely blank store it's likely some EU bureaucracy.Show all items in the store. gives this result.As the majority of thermal products on Aliexpress have been removed for people in certain regions... I reckon its likely some EU bs.but its sadly the case with a lot of items on Aliexpress etc. that is extremely censoring on what items you can see, depending on your region.

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 05, 2025, 05:46:08 pm
content: figment,Regarding your question about lenses…. Yes I can advise what specifications are important when ordering a lens from a company like Ophir, but such is useless if you are not succeeding in communicating well with this China based company. That alone would ring alarm bells for me.Ophir would want to know the cameras Wavelength coverage, back focus distance, focus type, the required image circle size, FPA resolution and the lens mount specification (thread position on barrel, diameter & pitch). Then you need to specify the lens focal length, aperture and transmission loss figures. If they need to make you a custom lens, you can expect a high cost.Normal practice is to look in the Ophir catalogue to see whether the Ophir “off the shelf” lenses will physically fit the desired camera and then look at the cameras back focus figure and image circle requirements in comparison with that of the lens. If “off the shelf” Ophir lenses do not match your cameras needs, you are into an expensive custom lens. A China made lens intended for use with the China made camera core is likely a cheaper option. Suppliers of thermal imaging cores will often offer different lens options at the time of purchase.Any decent thermal camera or core manufacturer would be able to advise you of the above specifications as they are not a company secret and easily established by testing. Of course, companies that just rebrand a product and have no true technical expertise in-house will likely not have a Scooby Doo what you are talking about !Fitting a different lens to a camera also requires a fresh flat field calibration and this is either carried out by the supplying manufacturer or they provide a utility for the user to use with a suitable flat field target, as FLIR do for their TAU cores. If the camera is also to be used for temperature measurements of any accuracy, a measurement system calibration will also be required using calibration software and a Blackbody IR radiation source.Fraser

author: ArsenioDev
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2025, 01:10:25 am
content: Also remember you're gonna get REAMED on the china lenses now that they hit the tariffs, and the chinese export tariff on germanium.Gonna be a nightmare of costs

author: figment
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 08, 2025, 03:25:38 pm
content: Just wanted to say thank you to all for the informative answers and advice.

author: _Wim_
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 10, 2025, 06:47:24 am
content: Quote from: DaneLaw on March 05, 2025, 02:06:17 pmYou can use a VPN to see them. Off course buying would be risky as probably the package gets blocked as well by the EU. Attached screenshot I took browsing via VPN "from" Venezuela...

author: gamerpaddy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 10, 2025, 10:15:33 am
content: setting your ship to: location to USA works aswellits due to the EU packaging / recycling law, many chinese sellers just dont want to pay a ransomBut ordering them from aliexpress is a bit hit or miss, and quite expensive actually. no documentation etc.a few months ago i got a quotation from guide thermal of 5k for a MID1212 (1280x1024 with usb 3.0),they even sent me the datasheet without needing to sign a nda.

author: Eassssse
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 04, 2025, 02:06:49 am
content: If Link-Card can’t provide a drawing, you can still measure the lens mount yourself with calipers to get the thread pitch/diameter. The detector format and pixel pitch are the most critical numbers for Ophir to calculate the correct focal length and image circle.And yes — slow replies from some of these vendors are common. If this is for a serious project, it might be worth asking them for a full datasheet or mechanical drawing upfront before spending money on custom glass.

author: Liu
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 19, 2025, 06:03:20 am
content: I recommend you to use iRAYTEK movement components，I have used their full range of movements and I can help you, but you have to follow the export rules

author: figment
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 28, 2025, 02:12:47 pm
content: Ultimately I did not purchase from "Link-Card" and instead found what I needed on fleabay in Kuait and USA. FYI, shipping from Kuait to USA was crazy fast, 6-days UPS standard.Again, thank you to all for the wisdom.