Building a basic thermal camera rig for under £200 – DIY guide for winter investigations

I've been messing about with thermal imaging for ghost hunting and general paranormal investigation, and I've managed to get a decent setup for under £200. Thought I'd share since thermal imaging is brilliant for winter investigations - easier to spot heat anomalies when the environment is cold.

What you need:

A secondhand FLIR One camera (around £60-80 on eBay), a compatible mobile phone (any smartphone will do, you might already have one), a tripod (£15 from Argos), and some basic mounting brackets from B&Q or a hardware shop (another £20). Total outlay: roughly £120-150 if you're smart about it.

How to set it up:

Mount the FLIR One to your phone, stick it on a tripod, adjust for your specific location's ambient temperature, and record video as you investigate. The software is intuitive - stores footage to your phone and you can review it later. I've been testing it on cold nights (November onwards is ideal), and it's genuinely useful for spotting thermal anomalies you'd miss with the naked eye.

Fair warning: you'll get a lot of false positives. Thermal differentials from buildings, animals, parked cars - all show up as heat signatures. But that's the point. You eliminate the mundane first. Anyone done similar rigs?

This is brilliant. I've been wanting to get into thermal imaging but thought it'd be proper expensive. FLIR One secondhand is the way to go then. Might grab one for the solstice investigations. One question - does the mobile phone battery drain quickly? That's my only concern for long overnight sessions.

Good guide. Fair point about false positives - you need to understand thermal signatures before you interpret them. Also, ambient temperature matters massively. Winter is better than summer because the contrast is clearer. Just don't expect thermal imaging to prove ghosts exist. It's a tool for observation, not evidence of anything supernatural.

I've built something similar but used a Seek thermal camera instead (cheaper, actually). Does the job fine. Your £200 estimate is spot on. The FLIR software is better though, I'll give you that.

Question: have you had any actually interesting thermal anomalies that you couldn't explain? I'm thinking about setting this up in my flat because I keep getting cold spots in one corner and I'm wondering if it's just poor insulation or something more interesting...

Fair warning: you'll get a lot of false positives.

Honestly, this is the problem with thermal imaging in paranormal investigation. People see a thermal anomaly and jump to supernatural conclusions when it's usually just air currents or building material conductivity differences. Still useful as a tool though, if you approach it sceptically.