We conducted a number of tests including side-by-side measurements of degassing from the North-East Crater of Mt. Etna. This demonstrated that, following full processing (e.g., camera calibration using gas cells), both cameras produced almost identical flux traces. In addition, we tested and investigated a range of other parameters including signal-to-noise ratios and detection limits. We conclude that while the commerical camera may be slightly more sensitive in certain circumstances, our lower cost camera based on the Pi Camera should perform admirably for the overwhelming majority of volcanic applications. This is particularly significant given the large reduction in cost of our system (approximately 10 times cheaper) compared to a commerical grade one. The video below shows SO2 concentrations (higher concentrations are red colours) as imaged using the Pi Camera.
The full published paper, which is Open Access was published in the journal Remote Sensing today "A Low-Cost Smartphone Sensor-Based UV Camera for Volcanic SO2 Emission Measurements".
Finally, happy new year!