Originally Posted By: Vance I keep seeing that term "NUC" and I'm curious if that is some kind of degaussing effect? All thermals are required to NUC. Here is one definition from the Internet: NUC are non-uniformity compensation (NUC) coefficients which are factory-calibrated to maintain high image quality on thermal cameras. The coefficients comprise a NUC table and generally work within a specific subset of the total operating temperature range. Is it the same as degaussing, no, but the end result is similar.
Many older thermals required the user to cover the objective to NUC the device. Thankfully, most of the newer models now have internal shutters so this is no longer necessary. If your image on the screen ever looks odd, such as distorted or has odd spots, a NUC is the first thing to do. Some thermals have auto NUC, while some thermals like Pulsar have auto, semi, and manual. Some users like the ability to NUC when they want so it doesn't happen during the shot. The longer the thermal takes to NUC (for instance Pulsar is really long while the Flir PTS series is super fast), the more the manual feature may be necessary. Thermals typically NUC quite often when first started up, but this process lengthens out as the thermal is on.
Originally Posted By: VanceWhen you talk about artifacts, I am thinking gliched pixels on the screen? Yes, there were some random spots visible on the image. It kind of looked like the screen had ice crystals, but as I said the NUC cleared it right up. This isn't something I would worry about as all of my thermals at some point have had an odd looking screen that simply required a NUC. I probably caught the scope right before it was about to NUC. I didn't type that information to scare anyone about the usage in cold weather. More so, if you see the same thing, manually NUC the scope. It is simply a quick press of the last button on the Hogster scope.