A blackbody test chart for exploring distance, detail, and camera noise.
Same sensor grid and fixed radiance scale in both images. The magnifier enlarges existing pixels. The chart is 2 m × 1.5 m; its warm bars get progressively finer from left to right.
- One pixel covers
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- Full scene width
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- Air transmission
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- Source image
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- Output pixels
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Preparing the comparison…
How this bench works & sources
Outdoor scene preview. A snapshot comes directly from the outdoor lab’s current LWIR view. Existing surface settings, image scale, and rendering effects are already in that image. The camera presets set output pixel dimensions only. Resampling, blur, and gray-level noise illustrate image processing; no depth, emissivity, radiance, camera NETD, field of view, or distance is reconstructed from the image. The full view is fitted to the chosen frame with dark padding. Refresh after changing the original scene. Scene images stay between your browser tabs and are included if you save the bench offline.
Test chart. The chart is a set of ideal blackbody bars in a uniform blackbody background. Each pixel averages the radiance falling within its footprint. Increasing distance changes sampling; resolved surface radiance is not divided by distance squared.
The chart examples use a flat 7.5–14 µm response. The presets copy the manufacturer's published IR resolution and horizontal field of view. Vertical field of view is derived using square pixels and a rectilinear projection. The published NETD is an upper bound measured at 30°C / 86°F; this bench uses that bound as a Gaussian RMS noise assumption, converted to radiance at that reference temperature. NETD does not specify absolute temperature accuracy.
Gaussian optical blur is an adjustable illustration, not measured lens performance. The air model is a uniform, non-scattering path: transmission = (transmission over 1 km)distance in km; received radiance = transmission × scene radiance + (1 − transmission) × blackbody radiance of the air. Its transmission is a chosen assumption, not a humidity or weather prediction.
Grays are linear in radiance between the selected temperature endpoints. This bench omits spectral response curves, distortion, focus errors, proprietary processing, temporal filtering, atmospheric turbulence, and scattering. These radiometric calculations apply to the independent test chart. The outdoor scene preview uses display tones only.
Public specifications checked 12 September 2026: FLIR T530 · FLIR T540. Physics references: field of view and sampling · FLIR radiation measurement model.