Hi, this may not be the best part of the forum to post but here it goes for now.

I have a DJI Mavic Pro drone. I'm looking for an economical way to add an
IR camera that would be visible on the monitor screen. It would be helpful
for agriculture, search and rescue and, of course, many other applications.

I'm aware of the FLIR products but these are pretty high end and not readily
adaptable to my drone.
Anyway, just thinking it would be neat to be able to do at some point without
having to spend a bundle.
Thanks to all for your thoughts.

 

The IR cameras I'm familiar with do not illuminate a very large area, nor do they shine very far. You can get longer distance IR illuminators but they are rather heavy for what you want. The cameras I use are like you're holding a flashlight with half dead batteries, you get a little illumination about the size of a flashlight beam.. YMMV

 

I have security cameras around my home and the IR light some put out is pretty good. Up to about 80 feet ish. Maybe you could find a camera with the highest IR output and use the IR board and come up with a custom housing and focuser?

 

Thanks for the input guys...guess it's just not possible to do what I would like on the cheap.
Best regards.

 

Not all IR cameras require an illuminator. This is particularly the case for deep (long wavelength) IR. My former employer developed an uncooled thermal camera that weighs less than a U.S. 50 cent piece. Currently it isn't cheap, but if it goes into volume production it might be.

 

"Good" is never cheap..

Or "Better, Faster Cheaper... Pick any 2"