Dirt cheap 640 Boson - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: hap2001
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2023, 03:42:51 pm
content: I just got one of these:https://www.ebay.com/itm/155733651853?Boson 640 60hz 50mk grade for $140, not bad to me.

author: hap2001
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2023, 03:46:59 pm
content: Okay... It's sold out just now.Is the buyer here?

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2023, 04:34:57 pm
content: Those look like the Boson cores fitted to some vehicles.

author: ArsenioDev
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2023, 04:43:45 pm
content: DAMN, would have loved to have snagged two for my thermal vision project:( Oh well gg to the buyers

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2023, 04:57:51 pm
content: The question is….. are they standard BOSON’s or the custom firmware commercial use models ? The seller stated that they work, but that could apply to their original deployment only. Remember the NV2, NV3 and NV4 (Boson) cores ?I wish luck to those who bought them, but commiserations if they are running custom firmware.Fraser

author: ArsenioDev
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2023, 05:51:03 pm
content: Quote from: Fraser on August 23, 2023, 04:57:51 pmI think it could POSSIBLY be NV4s

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2023, 06:52:17 pm
content: If they are NV4’s they are intended to be hard to redeploy

author: hap2001
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2023, 01:14:21 pm
content: Thank you guys!I found your NV4 mentioned here:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/thermal-imaging/flir-boson-640-variant-teardown/They don't look the same?What are the restrictions for the NV4 version?I'll keep it anyway, the lens itself worth the price.

author: hap2001
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2023, 01:38:32 pm
content: I found a Boson P/N decoder from Flir's manual, attached as picture.The ebay one is 20640AS95-6PAAX.As the manual says, OEM version should change the "AAX" part? Or could anyone show their NV4 part number?

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2023, 02:04:36 pm
content: You might be Fine with this core and it is standard. I have seen that same core and lens used in both vehicle and CCTV applications where they used custom firmware. As you say, the only NV4 that we have seen looks different, but there are other vehicle applications that employ these cores, such as driverless cars. If it is a protected model to make export easier, it will employ custom firmware that prevents its use in another application.

author: Abbott242
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2023, 08:23:46 pm
content: Haha a friend and I also grabbed the remaining two - quite a steal! Will be interesting to see how these perform, great that a fellow forum member got one also.

author: Abbott242
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 26, 2023, 07:14:13 pm
content: One arrived! It appears to have been bonded in place for some application, as there are traces of grey substance all over the rear of the core body. The shutter assembly is also bonded closed. But the front and lens look very clean! This core is so diminutive: pictured here next to some others (mini256, tamarisk320, as3600, scc500L). I'll test it soon once a vpc arrives. On that note, does anybody know which VPC modules are capable of 60hz output? It seems as though some are limited to 30hz.

author: hap2001
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 27, 2023, 12:10:28 pm
content: Quote from: Abbott242 on August 26, 2023, 07:14:13 pmLucky us!I won't be at my home(the shipping address) recently, so it's up to you to show if the cores work well

author: Abbott242
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 28, 2023, 02:33:36 am
content: It works!!!!!! Very happy.. This is taken with the FLIR VPC via USB video. Still much more experimenting left to do, but 640 cores are hard to do wrong. There is much more fixed pattern noise than I expected, and there are a few areas that appear to be damage on the window? (appear similar to a spec of dust on the window but also change with movement of point sources) Having done some side by side with a 17um 640 core (tamarisk) and from memory (BAE 17um 640) this is generally much noisier and a bit softer. The image really takes a hit when moving to f1.2 or f1.4 - really f/0.75 to f/1.1 is best it seems.Will try to post more photos later, one of the major issues now will be getting lenses calibrated- the default 4.9mm fisheye lens has a great deal of uneven illumination that is calibrated into the core, so other lenses display major hot/cold spots - but calibration seems to be straightforward.The reason it was sold at such a low price seems to be the shutter - it was not fully retracting after each nuc, meaning that a large portion of the screen was blocked. I was terrified at first that this was sensor burn-in, but thankfully, just a stuck shutter. A small amount of glue-like substance on the underside of the shutter flag was the culprit - a quick clean later, and everything was fully operational once more.Overall, just ecstatic to have such a high performance and compact core available - even if the image suffers a bit as a trade off for the emphasis on SWAP.

author: Vipitis
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 28, 2023, 02:50:21 am
content: If I recall correctly. The Boson can hold exactly two lens profiles (bias calibration). Not more. And you can't easily switch between them. For zoom lenses you would also have just a single correction. This was one of the reasons I didn't proceed with getting one a few years ago. But at the listed price I would have easily taken them.

author: hap2001
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 28, 2023, 05:35:13 am
content: Quote from: Abbott242 on August 28, 2023, 02:33:36 amI'm also very happy to hear that, which means they are not locked down version.Try to change the parameters via GUI, my tweaked TAU have a huge difference between default and custom settings, must be the same case for Boson.

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 28, 2023, 10:23:28 am
content: Excellent newsThese cores were a great buy at the price paidBut then again, it required your skills to repair a fault in it so well done for repairing it.Regarding the image quality….. this was the reason that I was disappointed with the BOSON when it was first released. I had expected far cleaner images as these cores use an advanced video processor. The BOSON is a nice form factor and would be a great building block for many thermal imaging devices…. If only they could sort out its imaging performance.Have fun with your BOSON and I am pleased that it is not one of the custom firmware versionsFraser

author: hap2001
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2023, 12:52:20 pm
content: Quote from: Abbott242 on August 28, 2023, 02:33:36 amSee my 2 attached screenshots from Boson manual, are they look like these?By the way, I don't understand why this was never a problem in pre-Boson series, such as TAU, Photon, etc.

author: hap2001
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 28, 2023, 02:44:25 pm
content: After long time busy with other things, I finally have time to play with my Boson recently.Yes, dirt-caused INUs are more of a problem in Boson, I guess that's why Flir says they "must be disassambled in a clean room"...Like any thermal camera, Boson's setting are also too conservative, I'm attaching my settings screenshots below.(Do note that if your PN or FW (2.0.15223) is different, you may not want to just copy my settings.)Some notes for these settings here:* Several parameters like gain and plateau have a narrower effective range than GUI shows.* "Detail headroom" only have negative effects.* DDE 1.0 is not neutral.* ACE almost have no effect.* "Smoothing factor" is not working as documented, but this bug is actually an advantage for us tweakers, due to different DDE behavior in Boson vs TAU.* "Frame averager" finally works.(Not in TAU)* Color palettes are in camera and not "GUI post processed".* Mid-grey point (brightness) is not correct, and change with unrelated settings. When Linear percent < 50, black-hot is darker than white-hot.* "Defect pixel replacement" mess with brightness and degrade picture quality.* "Linear percent" also mess with brightness.They really should do more work on their software, similar to TAU, Boson also have so many bugs.