Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 2, 2016 0:20:22 GMT
Hello to all - Has anyone here, purchased this video camera? Revolution Video Camera Kit?
I was at our Telescope store yesterday, and they were showing this camera outfit that sells for only $299. It has everything you need to start viewing.
Camera, 7" video monitor, cables, IR filter, and 0.5 reducer.
The camera is LN300 model.
I would like to hear some feedback from you all, before I purchase this outfit.
One of the forums mentioned, they wished the monitor was alittle better quality.
Its made in China, but what a great way to get back into Video Astronomy. This would cost you a $1000, if it was a mallincam, or more.
Any feedback is welcome Mike L.
|
|
|
Post by howie1 on May 2, 2016 0:56:50 GMT
Welcome Mike! If you check the recent threads and recent posts there has been quite a few with the Revolution. A recent thread contained a post by Ken James who (BTW) has some excellent how to's and live videos of the Revolution in use. But I think Kens (?) post said something about that company cannot obtain any more of that particular camera so what are left in stores is all thats left. SO you'd better act fast to get one! It is indeed a great price / deal for all the stuff you get in the kit, and does a good job at astrovid.
Um .... your comment re the Mallins ... well the mallin LN300 camera was only $99 to $199 as I bought one for use as a electronic finderscope. The expensive mallins around a grand have much better bits and bobs within. And in case you're wondering - no brand fan-boi bones in my body - I have a mallin or two, but also Canon, Nikon, ZWO and saving for Atik Inifity. Overall its a great time to get into the hobby as there are lots of new cams coming onto the market and each seems to do something better than the previous ones, as well as amazingly good software to make the images better. The Revolution is a great way to get into it ... just go get it quick!
cheers
|
|
|
Post by ChrisV on May 2, 2016 1:58:16 GMT
Welcome Mike
+1. Revolution imager is a great kit. I"ve got one. But as Howie says, might be difficult to get ? CCD cameras are being phased out in preference to CMOS. Its really sensitive. Great alone with a monitor, or frame grabber to beautify things on a computer.
Its all OK. I found the plug from the monitor a bit poor (or maybe I'm too rough) - but just leave it in all the time and OK. There might be other options (maybe Mallincam Micro). But others will know more about these than me.
Cheers Chris
|
|
|
Post by Dragon Man on May 2, 2016 11:34:14 GMT
Mike, as I mentioned in another forum for you, the Revolution Imagers are sold out at OC Telescope, but if you can get the kit elsewhere by all means get it. It is a great kit for a beginner (or even an old hand like me).
The Revolution has the best colour of all the LN-300 variants around by different vendors due to it using the latest 11811 sensor. The other LN-300's still use an older sensor.
I made a couple of videos of me using the Revolution Imager camera.
This first Video is with the older Revolution model which still had better colour rendition than other LN-300's
and this second video is with the current model Revolution Imager with the 11811 sensor which gives even better colour (this is the one you will get when you buy one)
From these videos you can see that it is a pretty good camera for its price. Easy to use too.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 3, 2016 1:03:00 GMT
Thanks for the welcome, guys !
I saw this camera, at Woodland Hills Camera & Telescope this past Saturday. I was buying a couple bolt-type eyepiece cases,
and they had one out on the counter. I said, "is that a new Stellacam?" and of course, the sales person started telling me about
this amazing video camera kit for only $299. But, now that this has been on the market for 9 months, give or take, - do you
think they are going to do maybe a "upgrade" on the Sony Chip, or video monitor? If most places are sold out, wouldn't you think they are going to make another batch of these?
Thanks for all your comment, and sharing experiences Mike Ventura County Astronomical Society
|
|
|
Post by Dragon Man on May 3, 2016 5:44:06 GMT
Mike, as much as Mike at OC Telescope would love to have more of these cameras, the Chinese manufacturers 'LNTech' simply don't make them any more. We would love it if they did because that gives newbies a very cheap way in to start Video Astronomy with a reasonably good camera. I do know for a fact that some vendors are trying to find another source for the cameras but they just aren't made any more. As far as 'upgrade' the chip. No, the chip in them is already the highest grade for that size camera. It is a fairly new chip. They will need to find another camera still in production to put the chip into. Upgrade the monitor? That would be up to the individual. I can see why the vendor supplies the one he does because it keeps the price down for newbies. If he used a better quality monitor it adds to the price, defeating the 'Budget beginners kit' idea. It would be nice to have a better monitor. Which can be solved by plugging in a little portable TV. Or buy a better monitor. But from the Vendor's perspective I can see why he supplies the cheap one. It will be interesting to see what happens with the remaining 11811 chips. They are a great little sensor, but with no camera to go into. . . . Yet! I find the cheap little monitor included in the kit adequate for what we do. It isn't high grade, or high resolution, but it still gives pretty good views. here's mine in action when I was testing a 50mm Finderscope with my kit:
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 4, 2016 16:40:45 GMT
Thanks again - - - to all of you with my questions. Woodland Hills Camera, where I saw the Kit last Saturday, is about 20 minutes from where I live. I will call first, and see if that kit is still available. I am excited to get back in Video Astronomy.
Thanks to all Mike
|
|
|
Post by Dragon Man on May 4, 2016 16:55:43 GMT
Cool Mike.
If he has them in stock he is probably the only person with any left.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 4, 2016 21:32:57 GMT
Hi Ken -
Woodland Hills has 1 left. Its missing 2 cables from the kit.
I mentioned to the salesguy, about the 11811 chip, being the latest. He checked the camera,
while I was place "on hold". He said, there isn't anything on the camera that would indicate what chip that's in the camera.
Would you be able to tell, by the serial number?
Mike in California
|
|
|
Post by Dragon Man on May 5, 2016 5:49:29 GMT
No Mike, you can only tell by the little gold wires attached to the sensor. Here are the 2 different sensors: 11673 (the old version) 11811 (the new version)
Using a microscope or a very powerful magnifying glass you will notice that on the old model (116730) the bottom left corner of the sensor has a space between wires 1 an 2. On the New version (11811) the space is between wires 2 and 3 and also has a microscopic '811' written in the bottom left corner oF the sensor.
|
|
|
Post by Rick in NWArk on May 5, 2016 14:18:07 GMT
Daaaaang Ken, good stuff!
|
|
|
Post by Dragon Man on May 5, 2016 14:43:46 GMT
Daaaaang Ken, good stuff! Thanks Rick. It was extremely hard to photograph the sensors in my 2 Revolution cameras. I got the pics above by placing my Philips ToUcam webcam hard up against the front of the Revolution camera body. Made focusing the webcam a whole lot of fun, and still get enough light in to see the sensor LOL!
|
|
|
Post by howie1 on May 5, 2016 23:13:04 GMT
How wierd ... I posted what I am about to say here, on another post/forum (?) recently ... if you take a regular pair of binoculars and reverse them so you are looking through the objective (not the eyepiece), and hold the eyepiece end about a cm or so away from what you are trying to microscopically look at ... it acts like a microscope.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 6, 2016 5:25:02 GMT
Is anyone using the Revolution imager on a Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope?
I see the Revolution kit comes with a 0.5 reducer. Would a Meade 3.3 reducer work better with the Revolution?
Thanks again Mike L.
Just thinkin"
|
|
|
Post by howie1 on May 6, 2016 5:57:50 GMT
Nah Mike ... it'll never work ... if its the 3.3 made in Japan, then I'll take it off your hands! Whats your asking price? lol. Just kidding cos the Japanese ones are apparently wonderful bits of kit. uncle-rods.blogspot.com.au/2015/12/a-revolution-in-affordable-video-imaging.htmlIf you read thru the above link Unca Rod tests Revolution first without and then with the 3.3 reducer on his SCT. Of course I don't know the size of your SCT, nor if that makes any diff. lol But my ASI224 which has a similarly sized sensor / chip in it to the Revolution works fine with a 3.3 optec on my 6" SCT. Its the larger sensored cameras which tend to have more problems getting in-focus/focus from heavy reduction. You will get some vignetting (darkened corners of the view) but still ok for EAA/NRTO. I'm sure I have read somewhere that even on Edge corrected SCT's the 3.3 will still work if you don't mind some coma / edge problems in the FOV (if you'll excuse the bad pun - not intended !) cheers
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 13, 2016 19:14:08 GMT
Hi all. New to the forum. Bought my revolution image kit from Mike at OC telescope past December and the weather is finally warm enough to go and try it out! I need help/advice on two things though:
1. System is working great in daylight, but when evening transitions to darkness the 7" monitor is so bright it washes out everything and I get virtually no pic. Playing with monitor brightness and contrast settings doesn't seem to help. Is there another setting I'm missing?
2. When I point telescope up toward zenith, the power cord keeps falling out of the camera. Tried taping power cord to video cord but still no luck -- power cord plug just falls out. Any fixes?
Thanks
T
|
|
|
Post by davy on May 13, 2016 19:46:52 GMT
Hi,t.ken..Dragonman is the guru for the revolution camera ,he has both models and is a tester for mike at oc telescope,fix for power cord would be to plug in to camera then make a small loop back to camera body an tape cord to the body it will take the strain off the connector,if it still falls out you may need to move the earth connection on the camera out a bit to grip cable connector.
|
|
|
Post by Dragon Man on May 14, 2016 4:46:45 GMT
G'day T, welcome to the Forum.
The brightness you mention may be because you have the exposure settings too high.
What settings are you using?
AGC - Lens- Brightness -
As for the power cable falling out, I've never heard of that from any camera. Davy gives good advice about taping it back in a loop. It might even be easier just to place a Hair Tie elastic or rubber band around the camera body to hold the weight of the power lead. It sounds like the cable is too heavy for the socket to hold it. There is only a very small piece of spring steel that hold plugs in.
You say you are taping the power cable to the video cable and it's still falling out! That tells me it might be that little bit of spring steel may not be pushing hard enough against the plug.
Look into the power socket and you will see the spring steel piece. With a toothpick lightly push it to the side like it would when inserting the power plug.
Is it really loose or quite springy. It should be springy, and strong enough to hold the plug in. If not, you might be best letting Mike at OC Telescope know. It's usually a simple fix to replace those sockets.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 14, 2016 15:14:57 GMT
Thanks to all who responded. Took a trip to radioshack hoping to find a tighter connector/extender but it doesn't exist! Tried prying the spring piece out (gently). While that helped slightly it's probably not a good idea to do that many times since "if" it breaks I'm SOL. I'll try looping the cord as suggested and using something to hold it down.
As to the 7" monitor washing out any picture in darkness - I have so far used default settings, then played with brightness & contrast. Then tried reading and applying the recommended settings as posted for "planets" at the revolution website. Either way the "backlighting" around the monitor's edge is very bright, and results in a washed out screen. I know everything works because I set up the scope @ 8pm local and sighted it in using a microwave tower 1/2 mile away and everything was crystal clear. Then a slewed to the moon and it was visible as well. Then as soon as darkness fell I tried Jupiter and couldn't see it at all.
I know there are recommended settings for stars vs. planets etc..., but are there recommendations for general ambient light conditions?
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 14, 2016 21:04:53 GMT
Thanks to all who responded. Took a trip to radioshack hoping to find a tighter connector/extender but it doesn't exist! Tried prying the spring piece out (gently). While that helped slightly it's probably not a good idea to do that many times since "if" it breaks I'm SOL. I'll try looping the cord as suggested and using something to hold it down. As to the 7" monitor washing out any picture in darkness - I have so far used default settings, then played with brightness & contrast. Then tried reading and applying the recommended settings as posted for "planets" at the revolution website. Either way the "backlighting" around the monitor's edge is very bright, and results in a washed out screen. I know everything works because I set up the scope @ 8pm local and sighted it in using a microwave tower 1/2 mile away and everything was crystal clear. Then a slewed to the moon and it was visible as well. Then as soon as darkness fell I tried Jupiter and couldn't see it at all. I know there are recommended settings for stars vs. planets etc..., but are there recommendations for general ambient light conditions? Hi! There are two brightness adjustments, one is in the "OSD" on screen display and the second one that sometimes customers forget about is on the monitor itself when you press menu. Also, sometimes the white balance is set to push? Let me know if that works! Mike Revolution Imager
|
|