Opticstar SL-131C COOLAIR, Setup Manual

Page 1: ...Opticstar SL 131C COOLAIR 1 3mp Colour Video Camera Setup Guide OPTICSTAR Microsoft Windows 64 bit 32 bit XP Vista 7 8 10 ...

Page 2: ... supply unit if you camera comes with one 4 Do not point the camera to a bright light source like the Sun without the appropriate filters as this will damage the sensor 5 Disconnect the camera from the computer when not in use 6 Treat the camera glass window with the same care as you would of a photographic lens CAUTION Manufacturer s Warranty This product has a 12 month back to base warranty For ...

Page 3: ...g etAMCAP 9 Image Resolution 9 Automatic Exposure Time 10 Manual Exposure Time 10 Colour Settings 10 Camera Speed 10 Other Settings 10 Installing Opticstar View 11 Camera Control 12 Frame Rate 12 Camera Configuration 12 Colour Adjustment Tab 13 Exposure Tab 13 Other Tab 13 Image Capture 14 Image Processing 15 Troubleshooting 16 USB Requirements 16 Express Card 16 Re Installing the Software Drivers...

Page 4: ...rocessing and measurement functionality Package Contents The following items are included in the package Opticstar SL 131C COOLAIR video camera with removable C ring In situ USB 2 0 cable CS to 1 25 telescope adapter Software CD Setup Guide this document System Requirements The minimum computer system requirements are the following Windows 32 bit or 64 bit XP Vista 7 8 10 with the latest Service P...

Page 5: ...del Such compliance allows the SL 131C to be used with etAMCAP and possibly with other third party applications Power up the computer or restart Windows but do not attach the camera to the computer yet Once on the Windows Desktop please follow the instructions in the following sections that describe how to install the software starting with DirectShow support Anti virus software may attempt to blo...

Page 6: ...C_Directshow exe 3 A message will appear Welcome to the SL 131C Camera Directshow Plug in Setup Wizard Click on the Next button to continue Step 2 Open the appropriate installation program Step 2 Ignore the Windows warning 4 Windows may display a warning message such as Windows can t verify the publisher of this driver software Select Install this driver anyway to continue 5 The next message will ...

Page 7: ...nue 7 Finally if Windows asks to restart the computer select Yes Step 6 Restart the computer DirectShow support can be removed from the Windows Control Panel independently of the camera s Windows software drivers Click the Add Remove Programs icon on XP or Programs and Features on Vista 7 or Apps and Features on Windows 10 and remove the entry headed SL 131C DirectShow ...

Page 8: ...software Step 3 Locating the Drivers folder on the CD 4 Select the Drivers folder and click OK to proceed 5 Windows will ask Would you like to install this device software Click the Install button to continue 6 Windows will display Installing driver software and will proceed with the installation Desktop computers have USB 2 0 ports on the front and the back Sometimes the ports at the front are no...

Page 9: ...ccessful Installation The camera will now be visible in Windows Device Manager and can be identified as Opticstar SL 131C USB2 0 Camera You can access the Device Manager by clicking the Start button on the Windows desktop and from Settings Control Panel select Device Manager Alternatively press F1 on the keyboard while on the Windows desktop to access the Help and Support Center Once there search ...

Page 10: ...esktop to run the program Running etAMCAP The camera will be identified as SL 131C Camera Select the camera from the Devices menu EtAMCAP can be used as a general purpose program to capture video in AVI format Image Resolution The camera can operate in a number of image resolutions From the Options Video Capture Pin menu select the camera resolution 1280 x 1024 640 x 480 320 x 240 640 x 480 ROI 32...

Page 11: ...cannot be set in manual exposure mode Colour Settings The colour reproduction of the captured images can be modified by the slider bars Additionally the values for Gamma Contrast and Saturation can be specified Camera Speed The camera speed can be set to Normal or High This refers to the speed at which the camera sends the data to the computer At Normal speed the image quality is better but at Hig...

Page 12: ...w can be used for a wide range of applications outside astronomy including microscopy 1 To install View navigate to the View folder on the CD and open the View_setup exe file 2 Windows will display Welcome to the Opticstar View Setup Wizard Click the Next button to continue Installing Opticstar View Running Opticstar View After the installation has finished View can be run by clicking on the Windo...

Page 13: ...mera settings to the default values Frame Rate When lower resolution modes are combined with manual exposure times they can increase the frame rate frames per second at which the camera operates Camera Configuration The exposure time as well all other camera parameters can be configured by clicking the Advanced button This button is situated below the Start Preview Stop Preview button A window wil...

Page 14: ...belled A B C and D Simply select one of them and click the Save button Exposure Tab When auto exposure is used the user cannot specify the exposure time However it is still possible to add a bias by increasing or decreasing the Target value Likewise the Gain value is not user definable in auto exposure mode To set the exposure time manually simply un tick the Auto Exposure option In this mode the ...

Page 15: ...r Video can be captured in AVI format by clicking the Start Video button This button toggles between Start Video and Stop Video Once the Start Video button has been pressed the camera will capture and store the data on the hard disk until Stop Video is clicked by the user The location of the stored file s can be specified by clicking the Config button By default video data is stored uncompressed i...

Page 16: ... defined regions Distances can be measured between user defined points circles etc Angles can be calculated by defining three points on the image Operations can be performed on any user defined region Colour operations can be performed on individual R G B channels Data combine of two images Data calibration Image zoom as a per cent of the original image Linear filters to soften sharpen emboss blur...

Page 17: ...C if the camera is not recognised on a particular USB port USB ports attached directly to the motherboard are more efficient Please note that PCMCIA USB2 0 cards typically do not provide the full USB2 0 bandwidth and will not work with the SL 131C camera Express Card To resolve such issues an ExpressCard with USB2 0 ports should be used instead of a PCMCIA CardBus card due to the ExpressCard s sup...

Page 18: ... re install the drivers please follow the instructions in the Installing Software Drivers for Windows section in this guide Support For support regarding the SL 131C please email Opticstar at info opticstar com Other Software There is some freely available third party software that may be of interest to some users Please note that Opticstar cannot guarantee the suitability the software Deep Sky St...

Page 19: ...c Range 71dB Signal to Noise Ratio 44dB max Window glass Clear no Infra Red cut off Image Output USB 2 0 480 Mb s Power Supply USB 2 0 Lens Mount C CS Mount Mounting to telescope C CS to 1 25 included Mounting to lens C to T thread M42 x 0 75 Mounting to microscope C to 23mm C to 30mm C to 30 5mm USB Cable 1 8 meter long Weight 250g Operation temperature 0ºC to 60ºC Computer requirements Microsoft...

Page 20: ... SL 131C Opticstar Ltd 2010 2017 19 Updated 09 10 2017 OPTICSTAR Opticstar Ltd 87 Washway Road Sale Greater Manchester M33 7TQ United Kingdom Tel 44 0 161 969 9008 Email info opticstar com Web www opticstar com ...