REVOLUTION IMAGER
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HOW TO USE THE CAMERA MENUS

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.


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.

the main menu

pressing the center menu/ok button brings up the main-menu. In this menu you'll find the following options:

 

  • EXPOSURE - This menu contains the main options for controller the different exposure options of the camera: exposure time, exposure mode, gain and brightness, for example.
  • LENS - This menu contains the options for altering the exposure time
  • RGB/COLOR - This menu contains the options for controlling the colour and white balance options.
  • DAY/NIGHT - This menu contains options for controlling the cameras ability to work in day and night. This menu is mainly used to switch the camera from colour to black & white.
  • EFFECT - This menu gives you options to rotate the image to suit your telescope and adjust the sharpness of the image
  • ENHANCE - This menu gives you options to enable the on-camera stacking, remove dead-pixels, and adjust gamma.
  • EXIT - This menu option lets you exit the menu, save your options and reset the camera options

 

Tip: When changing settings, use the "SAVE & EXIT" setting at the bottom of the menu you're in. If you do not use "SAVE & EXIT" the camera will automatically revert back to the last saved settings after a short amount of time. 

The other menus contain options relating the camera's security usage and do not have astronomical purposes.


exposure menu

the exposure menu is where you will spend most of your time. This is where you can alter the exposure time, exposure type and gain settings.

 

setting explanation
EXPOSURE Sets the exposure type. The types of exposure are:
  • NORMAL - Normal exposure, the default setting.
  • BLC - Black 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.
SENSE UP SENSE-UP puts the camera into a mode where it will adjust gain and exposure time up to the value you select automatically in order produce a good image. See the exposure table below in LENS to see the exposure times.
AGC Automatic Gain Control. AGC controls the maximum amount that the camera can amplify the image which can be set to LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH or OFF entirely. In order to use the 3D-DNR stacking you must have AGC enabled.
LENS LENS has two options: ELECTRIC and DC-IRIS. The DC-IRIS setting only works when a special kind of LENS is attached so you'll want to keep this on ELECTRIC. Press the center button will open the exposure time menu shown below in LENS
BRIGHTNESS BRIGHTNESS controls the brightness of the displayed image.

lens menu

the LENS sub-menu is where you set the exposure time that the camera will use. The table below lists the exposure time for each setting.

One way to determine the exposure time for the extended options is to divide the extended number by 50.

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

 


rgb/color menu

this menu allows you manipulate the way color is handled by selecting one of 4 options.

setting explanation
AWC Auto White Compensation. The camera looks for white in the image and tries to djust the image to balance out. Pressing the center button allows you adjust the blue and red tint (B-Y GAIN and R-Y GAIN)
ATW Like AWC but makes continous adjustments
MANUAL Gives you manual control over the color. By pressing the center button you can adjust the red and blue levels manually
PUSH Allows the camera to adjust all color settings automatically

day/night menu

this menu allows you to switch between colour &amp black & white.

The only option you will need to manipulate here is MODE. You can set it to 'DAY' for color images, 'NIGHT' for black & white, or AUTO.


effect menu

the effect menu gives you options to rotate the image and adjust sharpness.

 

setting explanation
MIRROR There are 3 settings here apart from OFF:
  • HOR - flip the image horizontally
  • VERT - flip the image vertically
  • ROTATE - rotate the image 180°
SHARPNESS Allows the camera to try and sharpen the image. A setting of 10-20 is recommended.

 


enhance menu

the enhance menu is where you can enable stacking, adjust gamma and enable dead pixel correction.

 

setting explanation
GAMMA Allows you adjust the gamma, or, brightness of the image. 0.3 is the brightest setting, 1.0 is the dimmest.
3D-DNR 3D-DNR enables the on-board image stacking feature of the camera. It can be set from 0 (no stacking) to 5 (5 images stacked.) Stacking the images allows the camera to smooth out and reduce noise which can help you see details better. In order to use this setting AGC or SENSE-UP must also be enabled. Because this instructions the camera to stack a number of images the exposure time will be multipled accordingly.
DPC Dead Pixel Correction. Almost every CCD image sensor has a small number of pixels that are "stuck" also know as dead pixels. This setting allows the camera to detect them and attempt to compenstate for them by setting it to AUTO.

 


exit menu

the exit menu gives you the options you need to save or your current settings

 

setting explanation
EXIT Exits the menu system. If you've made any changes to settings they will be reset after a small period of time if you select this ption.
SAVE/EXIT Saves your current settings and resets the camera. It's recommend you use this each time you make changes to settings.
INITIALIZE Resets the camera to factory settings.
RETURN Returns to the main menu.