Avian Photo Gear - Therm-App camera Review Part I

Today - 08 August 2017 I decided to order this thermal camera made by Opgal Optronics Israel after waited for an offer which eventually happened. I needed a  good  night vision  camera  for finding norturnal and roosting birds in the wee morning or dusk.  I am not so lucky to see  owls,  nightjars even frogmouth as well as camouflage ground birds in the day so hopefully with this thermal camera I can add some more lifers.

I opted for the full gear at an offer price of US Dollar  $1,070.00. The basis camera and hand grip is $999.  I thought the protective carrier case is important and to buy separately it cost much more.

Apparently you can also use it during the day especially in low light condition deep in jungle trails shaded by trees and foliage. Many a times we can hear the bird calling nearby but cannot spot the bird where actually it is standing right infront of you in the shade.

There other brands like Flir and Seek but the resolution and sensitivity is poor . Therm-App by far have the highest resolution  coming in at 384x288 pixels ie half  HD compared to the other brand latest models in 2017. The nearest competitor is the Seek CompactPro has 340x240 pixel resolution at half the price.

For more info go to https://therm-app.com/product/professional-performance-package/ . 

The basic lens is the  19mm which is equivalent to  our human vision ie 55mm wide. I reckon it would be easier to locate a bird as it is proportionate to what you see live. You can opt to bundle purchase the wider angle 6.8mm or the tele 35mm which is not necessary cos  the 19mm is suffice as recommended by Opgal for birding. The night vision camera is to be connected to Android phone. IOS version coming soon. Bigger phone screen will be better and the battery much be huge  as  the camera will draw power from your smartphone.  I used the Samsung A9 pro 6 inches  Amoled display with 5000mAh power capacity. You can take picture and video after downloading and using  their Therm-App Apps from Play Store.

Delivery was by FedEx and it took about 14 days for it to arrive at my doorstep. There was a import gst  tax charged for the item - a good sum of RM315! In all I fork out almost RM5,000.00 for this tiny camera and its gadgets. So worth investing or not ...... we will see in my part II review as I will test it in the field.