REVOLUTION IMAGER
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HOW TO USE THE CAMERA

The Revolution Imager features a series of a on-screen menus that allow you alter the exposure settings, adjust colours, enable stacking and host of other features. This page will introduce you to the menu system and some of the options.


don't panic!

the revolution imager camera has a lot of options and is extremely versatile and it can be easy to become overwhelmed with all the options available to you, which is why we have provided several pages here with some suggested settings for different types of objects.

However, the key to success with the camera and with most things in astronomy is to experiment with different options and see what happens! You can always use the provided guides to get back to settings that will work for you, so go ahead and have fun. Find something cool? Let us know!

the remote control

The on-screen menus are accessed and navigated using the supplied hand remote. The menus can also be accessed using the 5 buttons on the back of the camera. To access the on-screen menu press the center button on the remote. The directional up/down/left/right buttons are used to move around the menus and the center menu/ok button is used to enter different menus and select items.
When you press the center button of the remote the main menu will be displayed, at this point press the left and right buttons will switch between the main menus available. To enter one of the main menus press the center button.  When you're in a main menu use the up and down buttons to move between the available options. If an option displays a "⏎" or "↓" symbol, you can press the center button to open a sub-menu with further options.

control

The Revolution Imager camera contains a host of features that are useful for astronomical purposes and a number of features are designed for it's day time or night time use a security camera. On this page we will outline the options that you need to use to start observing straight away! Don't forget to view the object specific pages for recommended settings for viewing deep space objects, planets, and terrestrial objects.

When using the camera you will generally want to changing a few things, they are:

  • Exposure Time - the amount of time the camera will spend collecting valuable photons for each frame. Exposure time on the camera is either set to fractions of a second, or multiples of the camera's video framerate which is 1/50th of a second, this table below is a handy reference for exposure times:
    setting time
    1/100000, 1/10000, 1/4000, 1/2000, 1/1000, 1/500, 1/250, 1/120, 1/60 Fractional second exposures
    AUTO With this setting the camera picks the exposure time. We recommend using this with the SENSE-UP option.
    x2 0.04 seconds or 1/25
    x4 0.08 seconds or ~1/12
    x8 0.16 seconds or ~1/6
    x16 0.32 seconds or ~1/3
    x32 0.64 seconds or ~1/2
    x64 1.2 seconds
    x128 2.56 seconds
    x256 5.12 seconds
    x512 10.24 seconds
    x1024 20.48 seconds
  • Gain - the amount of boost/amplication the camera will apply to the signal. The Revolution Imager uses a system called "Automatic Gain Control" or "AGC" to apply gain to the image. You can set the maximum amount of gain, low, medium, or high and the camera will adjust the gain to produce an image. 
  • Sense-Up - A unique feature that allows the camera to auto-pilot with some guidance of the user to find the best exposure and gain for viewing.
  • Stacking - the number of frames the camera will combine to reduce noise and bring out detail.
  • Brightness and Gamma - these settings affect the overall brightness of the image, brightness is a simple adjustment of brightness whereas gamma effects the brightness of different areas of the image in order to improve brightness and contrast.
  • Color - options that deal with how color will be handled: full color or black and white. It is also possible to alter the color balance which can be useful which imaging the Sun.
  • Exposure Mode - the camera has different exposure modes, for example Wide Dynamic Range for high contrast objects.
  • Dead Pixel Correction - The Revolution Imager uses CCD sensor technology. All CCDs suffer from a small amount of dead pixels. The camera is able to try and detect these dead pixels and attempt to correct them. 

There are two versions of the on-screen menu on the Revolution Imager and the way you alter options are slightly different between the two, look at the table below for a guide on how to find, and how to change the options you are looking for. You can tell which version of menus you have by looking at the apperance of the main menu strip.

When updating any setting, please remember to select "SAVE & EXIT" at the bottom of the menu screen. If you do not select this the camera will reset itself to the previous settings after a short amount of time!

I want to change...

Menu version 1

Menu version 2

exposure time

Select the EXPOSURE main menu, and then select the "LENS" option and select "ELECTR.". Press the center button to open the exposure time menu when you can select the appropriate exposure time.

Select EXPOSURE from the main menu then select the LENS option "ELC", press the center button to select the exposure time.

 

 

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Menu version 2

sense-up Open the EXPOSURE menu and select "SENSE UP". You can use the left and right controls to select from OFF to X1024. For sense-up to work correctly on this option you must select exposure time "AUTO". Open the EXPOSURE menu and select "SENSE-UP". In order for SENSE-UP to available you must select exposure time "AUTO". You must also have an AGC level selected, either LOW, MED or HIGH. If "SENSE-UP" displays "----" it is because you have an option other than "AUTO" selected in the exposure time menu.
 

Menu version 1

Menu version 2

brightness Open the EXPOSURE menu and select BRIGHTNESS. You can use the left and right controls to select from 0 to 100. The brightness can be changes by using the "BRIGHT" setting shown above in the LENS sub-menu. Select "ELC." as the LENS option and press the center button to access this menu. 
 

Menu version 1

Menu version 2

exposure mode
Open the EXPOSURE menu and select the EXPOSURE option, use the left and right buttons to set the exposure type. The types of exposure are:
  • NORMAL - Normal exposure, the default setting.
  • BLC - Back Light Compensation.
  • WDR - Wide Dynamic Range. The camera will take different exposures and combine them so you can see things that are both dark and bright at the same time.
  • HLI - Hilight. This mode will obsure out parts of the image that are too bright so the dimmer details can be seen
Pressing the center button on the EXPOSURE menu opens a sub-menu where you can make adjustments to the BLC, HLI and WDR settings.

Open the EXPOSURE menu and select the "HLBC/D-WDR" option, use the left and right buttons to set the exposure type. The types of exposure are:

  • OFF - Normal exposure, the default setting.
  • BLC - Back Light Compensation.
  • D-WDR - Wide Dynamic Range. The camera will take different exposures and combine them so you can see things that are both dark and bright at the same time.
  • HLI - Hilight. This mode will obsure out parts of the image that are too bright so the dimmer details can be seen
Pressing the center button on the select option menu opens a sub-menu where you can make adjustments to the BLC, HLI and WDR settings.

 

 

Menu version 1

Menu version 2

gain Open the EXPOSURE menu and select the designed gain level from the "AGC" setting. Note: On this version of the menu system this option will be disabled if you have SENSE-UP enabled. Open the EXPOSURE menu and select the desired gain level. On this version of the menu system you must select the maximum gain that SENSE-UP can use. 
 

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Menu version 2

stacking

Open the ENHANCE menu and scroll down the "3D-DNR", the level can be set between 0-5 using the left and right buttons. 

Open the EXPOSURE menu and select "3D DNR" setting from OFF to LOW, MED, OR HIGH.
 

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Menu version 2

color or black and white

Open the "DAY & NIGHT" menu and select "DAY" for color images and "NIGHT" for black and white images.

Select "DAY & NIGHT" from the main menu and select the "D&N MODE" option to switch between "COLOR" and "B&W"

 

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Menu version 2

gamma

Enter the ENHANCE menu and select GAMMA. 1.0 should be considered the "normal" setting for GAMMA and the lower values will increase the brightness.

Enter the "FUNCTION" menu and select GAMMA. You can also select USER setting and enter the sub-menu by using the center button which will give you more GAMMA settings. A GAMMA setting of 1.0 should be considered the normal or default setting, with lower values increasing the brightness of the displayed image.

 

 

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color balance

Enter the COLOR menu and select MANUAL from the MODE menu. Then scroll down down and alter the RED and BLUE settings to increase the levels of those colors.

 

Enter the COLOR menu and select "WB-MANUAL" from the "WB MODE" menu. There you can alter the "M.WB R" value for red and "M.WB B" for blue.

 

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Menu version 2

correct dead pixels

Open the "ENHANCE" menu and select scroll to the DPC option and select "AUTO"

 

Open the "SETUP" menu, scroll down to "AUTO DPC" and select the "AUTO" option.