1st Time Operation
To best understand operation, for first-time use, test the device in a lighted room
with the
lens cap attached.
The small amount of light entering through the pin-hole in the lens cap will simulate a
night-time environment.
Press the
power button
to turn on.
Push up
on the
three-way switch
located on the bottom.
Focus eyepiece.
1. A menu will appear. Use this menu to focus the eye piece.
2. Rotate the eyepiece rubber cup until the menu letters are sharp and in focus.
If the menu disappears, push up again to see the menu again.
3. Use the menu as a focusing target. This adjustment focuses your individual eye
sight on to the display screen.
4. After the eyepiece focus (technically called the diopter lens) is adjusted, do not
change this adjustment. After you set the eyepiece adjustment, use the front
lens to focus on objects in the distance.
Get comfortable with the
gain control.
Push the
three-way switch
to the left and to the right.
As you push the switch left or right (but not up), you are manually adjusting the electronic
gain (light amplification) of the internal computer circuit.
Notice the following as you increase gain (push to the right):
1. At very high gain settings, the image gets “nosier”.
Notice a “snowy” image at high gain settings.
2. As you increase the gain quickly, you may notice a momentary very bright image
which quickly darkens itself back to normal intensity. This behavior is the device
sensing that the image is overexposed, and automatically reducing internal gain
and/or exposure to compensate. In an actual dark environment, iGen would not
throttle back the gain in this manner.
If the “overexposed image” message appears, it is prompting you to reduce
gain. If this message disappears automatically, then the internal processor was
able to automatically reduce the gain or exposure.
Notice that rotating the objective lens (large lens on front of iGen) has little effect on the
focus of the image. The pin-hole on the lens cap lets in only a narrow beam of light which
requires little mechanical focusing to align. If the scene is out of focus, you may need to
rotate the lens many degrees to achieve a small amount of optical focusing. This
characteristic will not be apparent when using the iGen with the lens cap removed.
Press the
Infrared Button
several times.
Notice that it has 3 different modes: AUTOMATIC, OFF, and MAXIMUM
4
Adjustments
(continued)
Exposure
(continued)
While light-gathering capability improves with longer exposure times, at exposure settings
below 15fps, the image will appear unnatural. Longer exposure settings (lower fps
numbers) present fewer and fewer image “snapshots” which are presented to you just as
a movie is a collection of frames repeated at 30 frames per second. Below 15fps, a
moving image may appear to move unevenly. Likewise, below 12fps, the image may
shake as a person is unable to hold the iGen completely still. If you concentrate on
holding the device still, you should find the device very useful down to 10 or 12fps.
At very long exposure times, down to 2fps, the light-gathering capability of the iGen is
truly remarkable. However, to be useful at such long exposure times the device must be
positioned on a stable surface. You may rest it on a flat surface suitable for viewing, or
connect to a tripod mount. The tripod adaptor fitting located at the base of the device will
connect to all standard tripod mounts, with a fitting size of 1/4 - 20.
8. Video Format
When recording on an external device using the Video Composite Output, select the
format compatible to your recording device.
Selections are:
NTSC (for devices sold in the U.S. This is the default setting)
PAL (European standard)
To record to an external device, remove the rubber plug on the left side of the device, and
connect with a composite video cable (RCA cable). With the iGen powered on and
focused, no other iGen settings are necessary. If use of the eyepiece display is not
required, extend battery life by turning off the display with the “display on/off” function.
9
