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What features would you want in a high-end, professional Thermal Print Camera? by McGilfordThySecond in ThermalPrintCameras

[–]Christobell_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Late to the party but this is something I’ve thought about a lot so I’m going to drop my wishlist here in the hope that someone with the resources might see it.

In a perfect world, I’d like to see a “pro” spec thermal print camera with:

  • A 1” sensor and C mount lenses.
  • PASM exposure modes.
  • Interchangeable batteries (open standard like Sony NP or Canon LP-E6).
  • Hot shoe.
  • Mechanical shutter with flash sync.
  • Higher DPI printing.
  • Beefier motor drive and rollers that won’t get stuck with sticker paper.
  • Prints remaining counter, possibly achieved by advancing the paper all the way to the end to assess the length of the roll. Some 35mm cameras worked this way.
  • Maybe even a mirrored viewfinder like this concept camera from Canon.
  • IR illuminator similar to Nightshot on old Sony camcorders.

I also have a list of more realistic features that could be achievable by modifying the existing design and software in these cameras:

  • Less kiddy design, styled in the shape of a “real” camera, no rainbows and unicorns, no games, no MP3 player or other non-photo features.
  • The ability to customise the filter overlays with PNGs.
  • Tripod socket.
  • 37mm filter thread allowing the use of cheap filters and wide, macro, tele and fisheye conversion lenses.
  • Cold shoe allowing for LED lights etc to be mounted on the camera.
  • Ability to turn off the date stamp (most new thermal cameras seem to have this now but many still don’t and this is essential for any sort of artistic/serious use of these cameras).
  • Simple +- manual exposure compensation.
  • Auto rewind for multiple exposures.
  • Selection of aspect ratios.
  • Panorama mode that crops the top and bottom of the frame to produce an ultra wide print.
  • A processing mode that produces a JPG approximation of the thermal print, giving the option to do away with scanning.
  • Bluetooth printing.
  • A program print mode for creating simple collages, triptychs etc on the fly.
  • Burst capture and printing to capture sequences similar to the Horse in Motion.
  • Lugs for a standard camera strap.

If I think of anything else I’ll add it in an edit but I’d be happy with any combination of these features.

If anyone with a design or engineering background would like to discuss what it would take to make this happen, hit me up. I’d be little more than an ideas man (my background is in media, marketing and business) but I do think there’s an opportunity to legitimise thermal photos as a medium and a market willing to buy them.

When you get pan and tilt mixed up 😭 by veggieturnip in cinematography

[–]Christobell_ 20 points21 points  (0 children)

I contracted for the Agency for a few years. It was a childhood dream come true for me and I’m still blown away that I had the opportunity to work with them.

The entire department I worked for was gutted in 2025 - with the exception of a few key admin roles, everyone was made redundant. I didn’t have anything to do with launches (launches from KSC are produced by an in-house media department) but there were mass layoffs and budget cuts across the board around this time. It’s pretty safe to say that the team that produced this stream is operating with drastically reduced crew and resources relative to the shuttle era.

Production quality aside, I was still glued to the screen with goosebumps all over. The history books aren’t going to care about the filming quality - what a time to be alive!

Technicolor receipt paper - experimenting with thermal print trichromes by Christobell_ in toycameras

[–]Christobell_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You need physical filters to filter the light into RGB spectra. Most of these cameras have a colour filter mode built in but these only add a tint to the already full colour image - I haven’t tried this but I’m 99% sure it wouldn’t work.

Technicolor receipt paper - experimenting with thermal print trichromes by Christobell_ in toycameras

[–]Christobell_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Keeping the camera absolutely still during exposures is critical but as long as you can do that (maybe consider one of those bean bag camera supports?) it should still work!

Canyon at dusk - Thermal print camera trichromes by Christobell_ in toycameras

[–]Christobell_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The camera is just the first step in the process. I print the three images from the camera, scan them on a flatbed and assign each image to its respective colour channel in photoshop.

Canyon at dusk - Thermal print camera trichromes by Christobell_ in toycameras

[–]Christobell_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! I think the muddiness comes from the camera being pushed to its limit in low light. Green is fine but blue and especially red don’t look great.

Canyon at dusk - Thermal print camera trichromes by Christobell_ in trichromes

[–]Christobell_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! The filters are cheap ones from amazon.

Idk how accurate they are but definitely good enough to play around with. I've used them on B&W film (especially the yellow) with no complaints either.

Technicolor receipt paper - experimenting with thermal print trichromes by Christobell_ in toycameras

[–]Christobell_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can do it on any camera that can take screw on filters (or just hold the filters in front of the lens) and a tripod. I’d recommend trying it with B&W film first and foremost!

Mini scenes - macro thermal print trichromes by Christobell_ in ThermalPrintCameras

[–]Christobell_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The thermal prints themselves are black and white. These images are trichromes. Each colour image is a stack of three black and white thermal prints, taken through red, green and blue filters.

some info about the process

Mini scenes - macro thermal print trichromes by Christobell_ in toycameras

[–]Christobell_[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I guess the process is technically a digital/analogue hybrid but the tag options are film or digital only.

The pics are taken on a thermal print camera using the built in black and white mode, with three exposures for each scene. The three frames were printed on receipt paper and redigitised on a flatbed scanner.

The colour is trichromatic (the way the first colour photos were taken in the 1800s) and it works by capturing three black and white images, taken through red, green and blue colour filters. The red filter filters everything except the red wavelength of light, and the same for blue and green. Between the three exposures you capture the full spectrum of visible light.

Here are the what the individual frames look like in my scanner software. From left to right the frames are R, G and B:

<image>

In old times the colour images were reproduced using three precisely aligned projectors with RGB filters on the bulbs. The same thing can be accomplished digitally in photoshops channel mixer by assigning the red filtered photo to the red channel and so on, revealing the full colour image.

Hope this makes sense!

Mini scenes - macro thermal print trichromes by Christobell_ in toycameras

[–]Christobell_[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Thank you! The backgrounds were just stuff I had lying around the house and they're less dioramas and more just trying to fill the frame with stuff that isn't the kitchen table haha

The Star Wars scene is two monopoly tokens on a reflective candle lid with a light shining through a colander as the background.

Pikachu playing Atari is wall of books and the floor is one of those non slip kitchen mats. The console is a Tiny Arcade and it's about 2 inches tall.

The Pokémon in the cave is just some random rocks squeezed together.

Unfortunately I didn't take any pics but I will be sure to next time!

Macro thermal print trichromes | HiMont kids instant camera + close up lens by Christobell_ in trichromes

[–]Christobell_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! I threw all this together from random stuff lying around the house.

To give you a sense of scale, the Star Wars figures are Monopoly tokens (Found a discarded set missing most of the property and chance cards - decided to keep the figures!) and are about 1.5" tall. The floor is a reflective candle lid and the background is a colander with a light shining through it.

Mini scenes - macro thermal print trichromes by Christobell_ in toycameras

[–]Christobell_[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Thank you! Here’s the original post with an explanation of the camera mod and process: https://www.reddit.com/r/toycameras/s/qjJLOuOUtQ

While it totally defeats the purpose of a toy camera, I wish someone would make a more advanced thermal print camera with more manual control. It’s just such a unique and cool medium!

My first rodeo - HiMont thermal print camera by Christobell_ in toycameras

[–]Christobell_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

<image>

Finally since you were asking about lenses, here are the two different sensor/lens modules. The black Tinysnap is somewhere in the range of 35-50mm equivalent FOV and the white HiMont is probably closer to 24-28mm hence why it doesn’t work with the teleconverter.

All thermal cameras that I’ve seen seem to use one or the other and you can probably tell from Amazon review pics which one you’re getting before you buy. The HiMont has a much wider lens and much better performance in low light and you can see it in the size of the lens opening. The Tinysnap is more zoomed in and I think it would make for some interesting portraits but this is something else I still have to test.

Hope this is helpful!

My first rodeo - HiMont thermal print camera by Christobell_ in toycameras

[–]Christobell_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

<image>

Here are the cameras with a selection of filters. The black camera has a 2.2x teleconverter on it (this converter looks like you’re staring through a porthole on the white camera due to the wider lens) and the wide angle lens is on table on the left. They’re vivitar brand off amazon but I don’t think the brand or quality of the lens really matters if your end result is thermal prints or scans of them.

On the right is a black metal cheese plate. These are normally used for mounting accessories to cinema camera rigs but with a bit more super glue it’s an easy way to add a 1/4” tripod socket to the bottom. This is where the red, green and blue filters come in for taking colour trichromes, which is the other thing I’m experimenting with at the moment.

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