MallinCam Universe User Manual page 21

Contrast:
Used to adjust the differences in luminance to make objects in the image appear more or less
distinguishable. Use this control in conjunction with adjusting the Exposure length and Gamma
setting to produce a preview image to your liking.
Select a value between –20 to +20. The default value is 0. Higher values increase the relative
difference between light and dark areas of the image.
Gamma:
Used to adjust the range of brightness in the image. Since the Universe camera can capture a
dynamic range of brightness greater than most computer screens can display, adjusting the
gamma value allows you to adjust the image brightness to your liking. Use this control in
conjunction with adjusting the Exposure length and Contrast settings.
Select a value between –20 to +20. The default value is 0. Higher values make dark areas of
the image appear darker, thereby emphasizing bright details. Lower values make dark areas
lighter, thereby emphasizing faint details.
Flip Horizontal and Flip Vertical:
These controls do exactly what you would expect them to, flipping the image horizontally and
vertically, respectively. This can be useful in matching an image to a view in a star chart.
Color controls:
Color balance (also referred to as white balance) involves making adjustments to the intensities
of the primary colors (red, green, and blue) in order to remove unrealistic color casts and achieve
the proper rendition of all the colors in the image. This is a complex topic, since the image data
gathered by any CCD chip is different than that acquired by the human eye and then interpreted
by the brain. In addition, ambient viewing conditions during the image acquisition always differ
from the viewing conditions when displaying the image. Color adjustments are done to try to
reconcile all of these differences.
The R gain, G gain, and B gain sliders allow you to adjust the relative amounts of red, green, and
blue in the image, respectively. The default values are 1.00 for each of these controls. You can
adjust any of them to values between 0.00 to 3.98.
The MallinCam capture application also offers an automatic white balancing solution. Click the
One Push WB button to activate this feature. When you use this, the application performs an
analysis of the current image and applies a mathematical algorithm to transform the data using
the known characteristics of the sensor. The individual color slider values are then set
accordingly and you'll see the effect on the next preview image.
Refer to Section 9 for more information on color balancing and the use of filters for your
imaging.
NOTE: The white balance should be reset whenever you change the image exposure time.
Saturation:
Used to adjust the saturation of colors in the image. Saturation is the degree of intensity of a
color relative to its own brightness.
To change the degree of saturation, you must first select the Unlock saturation checkbox.
Then set a value between 0 and 255. The default value is at the midpoint of 128 (this is also
the value used whenever the Unlock saturation checkbox is not selected). Higher values
increase the degree of saturation, making colors more vivid. But too high a value will make
the image look unnatural. Lower values make colors appear more muted.
MallinCam Universe - User's Guide v1.05 21