MallinCam HD-10 User Manual
Revision Sheet
HD-10 User Manual Page i
MALLINCAM HD-10
[Version 1.1]
Michael Burns
Rock Mallin
[Mallincam HD-10 User Manual]
This document will quickly introduce you to the wonders of the Mallincam HD-10
Camera. We will include instructions on how to install the Software and Drivers and
how connect the HD-10 to your HDMI Monitor or computer along with explanations of
the camera’s major settings. The purpose of this guide is to quickly get you up and
running with the HD-10 Camera so that you can image the skies and share your
passion with others.
Revision Sheet
HD-10 User Manual Page ii
Revision History
Version
Date
Revision Description
1.0
07/07/2017
Template Creation
1.1
02/01/2018
Typo Corrections
Mallincam HD-10 User Manual July 7, 2017
HD-10 Quick Guide Page 0
Table of Contents
Contents
Revision History .................................................................................................................................................. ii
Table of Contents
........................................................................................................................................0
1. Introduction
..........................................................................................................................................3
The Contents of the HD-10 - Package ................................................................................................4
Specifications ....................................................................................................................................................... 4
Included in Package ............................................................................................................................................. 5
2. Installing Driver and Software ............................................................................................................6
System Requirements ..............................................................................................................................6
Installing the Software ............................................................................................................................6
3. The Mallincam HD-10 with a HDMI Monitor ...................................................................................7
Connecting the HD-10 to your HDMI Monitor ....................................................................................7
HD-10 Control Icons ...............................................................................................................................9
Detailed Icon Description .................................................................................................................................. 10
Camera Icon ................................................................................................................................................... 10
Settings Icon ................................................................................................................................................... 10
Settings Control .............................................................................................................................................. 10
Image Action Window ................................................................................................................................... 11
Imaging with the Camera ................................................................................................................................... 13
Gamma ......................................................................................................................................................... 14
Contrast ....................................................................................................................................................... 14
Saturation .................................................................................................................................................... 14
Brightness ..................................................................................................................................................... 15
Sharpness..................................................................................................................................................... 15
Denoise ......................................................................................................................................................... 15
4. The Mallincam HD-10 with a Computer ..........................................................................................17
Connecting the HD-10 to your Computer ...........................................................................................17
First Time Installation of Software .................................................................................................................... 17
Starting on the HD-10 on the Computer ............................................................................................................ 23
The ISCapture Window ..................................................................................................................................... 24
HD-10 Quick Setup and Pictorial Work-Flow ....................................................................................25
Detailed Work-Flow Procedures........................................................................................................................ 26
Exposure ........................................................................................................................................................ 26
Gain ................................................................................................................................................................ 27
Gamma, Contrast, and Saturation .................................................................................................................. 28
Monochrome .................................................................................................................................................. 28
Red, Green, and Blue ..................................................................................................................................... 29
Denoise and Sharpen ...................................................................................................................................... 29
Sharpness..................................................................................................................................................... 29
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Denoise ......................................................................................................................................................... 29
White Balance ................................................................................................................................................ 30
Histogram (Brightness) .................................................................................................................................. 32
Capture a Still Image ................................ ................................................................ ................................ ...... 34
Capture a Video Sequence ............................................................................................................................. 35
5. HD-10 Control Software ....................................................................................................................36
HD-10 Control Bar ................................................................................................................................36
Connected Camera Selector ................................................................................................................... 36
Action Tabs ............................................................................................................................................36
Capture Tab ...........................................................................................................................................37
Main Control Tab .............................................................................................................................................. 37
Live Image Resolution ................................................................................................................................... 38
Captured Image Resolution ............................................................................................................................ 38
Resolution Lock ............................................................................................................................................. 38
Quick Exposure Adjustment .......................................................................................................................... 38
Lock WB ........................................................................................................................................................ 39
White Balance Wizard ................................................................................................................................... 39
Default Settings .............................................................................................................................................. 39
File Save Tab ..................................................................................................................................................... 39
Saved Image Format ...................................................................................................................................... 40
Save Structure ................................................................................................................................................ 40
File Name ....................................................................................................................................................... 41
File Path ......................................................................................................................................................... 41
Continuous Shooting ...................................................................................................................................... 41
Record Video ................................................................................................................................................. 42
Video Format ................................................................................................................................................. 42
Exposure Tab ..................................................................................................................................................... 44
Auto Exposure ................................................................................................................................................ 44
Manual Exposure ........................................................................................................................................... 45
Gain ................................................................................................................................................................ 46
Frame Speed ................................................................................................................................................... 46
Data Width ..................................................................................................................................................... 46
Color Control Tab .............................................................................................................................................. 47
Gamma ........................................................................................................................................................... 47
Contrast .......................................................................................................................................................... 48
Saturation ....................................................................................................................................................... 48
Color / Monochrome ...................................................................................................................................... 48
White Balance ................................................................................................................................................ 49
Black Balance/Flat Fielding ........................................................................................................................... 49
Red Balance ................................................................................................................................................... 49
Green Balance ................................................................................................................................................ 50
Blue Balance .................................................................................................................................................. 50
Denoise .......................................................................................................................................................... 50
Sharpen .......................................................................................................................................................... 51
Default ............................................................................................................................................................ 51
Fluorescence Tab ............................................................................................................................................... 51
Blacklevel....................................................................................................................................................... 52
Histogram ....................................................................................................................................................... 52
Black Balance ................................................................................................................................................ 53
Capture Mode ................................................................................................................................................. 53
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Parameter Tab .................................................................................................................................................... 54
To save a Parameter Setting ........................................................................................................................... 54
To Load a previously saved Parameter Setting .............................................................................................. 54
To Delete a Parameter Group Setting............................................................................................................. 54
Capture Tab Action Keys .....................................................................................................................55
Browse Tab ............................................................................................................................................56
Changing Path Location ............................................................................................................................ 56
Browse Tab Action Keys ......................................................................................................................57
6. Appendix .............................................................................................................................................58
Appendix A: Connecting to Night Skies Network (NSN) using the HD-10 Software .....................58
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................... 58
Appendix B – First Aid for the HD-10 ................................................................................................66
The HD-10 Software says it can’t find the Camera ............................................................................. 66
My Image is all White. .................................................................................................................................. 66
My Images is looking all wrong, colors, blotchy. .................................................................................. 66
When I save my AVI Video it only saves part of the Video. ............................................................. 67
My HD-10 is frozen, or the commands do not seem to be working correctly. ............................ 67
My Image on the Screen is great, but when I try to Modify it, the image is all White. .............. 67
Appendix C: Notes ................................................................................................................................68
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1. Introduction
The Mallincam HD-10 is a world first ever produced true HD High Definition live video camera for
astronomical work, whose output is HDMI. The new MallinCam HD-10 has a computer, memories
and processor all built in the camera which can be used as a stand-alone unit without any
external computer assistance. If a user does want to use a computer however, the USB2 permits full
camera control via computer and software. The MallinCam HD-10 is a true versatile astronomical
video camera making it easy to operate.
The USB2 connectivity has dual function. It can be used for the camera mouse control and access
the full built-in camera software without a computer or a user may choose to connect to
computer for full control and image acquisition to a PC. The back bone of this newest MallinCam
Video Observational System is the use of a 2.1 megapixel High Performance, Back Illuminated,
High Definition Sony CMOS sensor delivering 1 ms second up to 10 seconds of exposures for many
popular deep sky objects, Planetary views, Lunar views, Solar observation (when used with proper
solar filter) with spectacular results when observed on a HDMI monitor (user supplied) of any size
ready to impressed your audience when viewing astronomical features on a large HD monitor in
16:9 resolution at 1080P.
For the first time, an HDMI camera is equipped with complete exposure and gain settings. It allows
to exposure settings from 1ms to up to 10 seconds and 63 levels of gain adjustment making the
sensitivity of the sensor up to 300 times higher. Built in video and image Recorder via SD card
(supplied) in 1080P. Just click on the button to start recording 1080P videos at 30fps. The recorded
video files will be saved to the high-speed SD card directly built-in the camera. It also allows
playback of the recorded videos from the SD card directly allowing a user to show the previous
night observation when cloudy or rainy condition exist.
The Built-in Mouse control is the significant innovation of the MallinCam HD-10 embedding the
application software inside the camera. The user can control the camera with just a mouse. There
is no need for a PC. The dual-core processor of the MallinCam HD-10 adopts an innovative FPGA
dual-core processor, FPGA1 high-definition image quality processor and FPGA2 image output
controller, to ensure high speed high quality images live. 3D Noise Reduction with up to seven
times sampling (averaged stacking) is included. Increase of the exposure time increases the image
noise. But the integrated fully adjustable 3D noise reduction function keeps the MallinCam HD-10
image always clean and sharp.
So, thank you for your purchase, and let the adventure begin.
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The Contents of the HD-10 - Package
Specifications:
CCD sensor: Sony CMOS sensor
Sensor size: 5.6. x 3.2 mm
Active pixel array size: 1945 (H) × 1097 (V) (2.1 Mega Pixels)
Pixel size: 2.9 x 2.9 microns
Analog-to-Digital conversion: 12-bit output
Exposure time range: 1 milli-seconds to 10 seconds
Weight: 15.7 oz. (446 gm)
Mounting interface: c-Mount
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Included in Package:
① MallinCam HD-10 CMOS① imaging camera
② High Speed SD Card
③ USB 2.0 Cable
④ HDMI Cable
⑤ USB Mouse
⑥ Flash drive containing software installation files
⑦ 1.25” eyepiece adapter
⑧ AC Power Supply
You can use your own wireless mouse with the HD-10. This will make it easier to control the
camera, rather than be tethered so close to the camera.
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2. Installing Driver and Software
System Requirements
PC running either Windows ® (32-bit & 64-bit) XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10
Performance is not guaranteed if the following specification cannot be reached.
• Equal to Intel Core2 2.8GHz or Higher
• Memory: 4GB or More
• USB port: USB 2.0 Port
• Display Monitor: 17" or Larger Recommended
• A video display capable of rendering 1024x768 resolution minimum; 1280x1024 or higher is
recommended, and in 24-bit color
• One available fully-specified high-speed USB 2.0 port
• 120V AC Power for adapter, or 12V, 2.0A AC Source
Installing the Software
Visit the Software Downloads Page in the Support Tab located on the website:
www.mallincam.net
Select the Blue Click Here Button to download the HD-10 Driver.
After you have clicked on the Blue Click Here indicator, a zipped file will be downloaded
onto your computer.
Make sure that the HD-10 is not plugged into the computer.
Step 1
Step 2
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3. The Mallincam HD-10 with a HDMI Monitor
Connecting the HD-10 to your HDMI Monitor
First make sure you have the following pieces of equipment:
• Mallincam HD-10 Camera
• 1.25” C nose-piece adapter
• SD Card (inserted into SD slot on back of Camera)
• 12V Power Adapter
• HDMI Cable
• USB Mouse (one is provided, or use your own wireless mouse)
• HDMI Monitor (with power cable)
Remove the rubber dust cover from the front of the HD-10 camera (place it back in the box
for safe keeping).
Screw in the 1.25” nose piece adapter to the front of the HD-10.
(You may need to remove the blue protection screen covering
the CMOS sensor prior to attaching nose-piece).
Insert the Mallincam HD-10 camera (with .125” adapter
attached) into the 1.25” piece holder of your Telescope.
Attach the USB Mouse Cable, the HDMI Cable, and Power
Cable to the back of the HD-10. A Red LED power indicator
will turn on.
Now is a good time to balance your telescope (with the HD10 camera attached) on your mount.
Attached the other end of your HDMI Cable to your HDMI Monitor.
Power on the Monitor.
Hint
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Power on the HD-10 Camera by Pressing the ON/OFF Button on the
back of the camera. A blue LED should turn on.
Your HDMI Monitor should now display the image coming from the
Mallincam HD-10 camera.
Move the mouse to the Left Side of the screen and the Photo and Setting Icons will appear
on the monitor’s screen.
➢ Clicking on Photo Icon will have the HD-10 take an image and store it on the SD card.
➢ Clicking on the Settings Icon will open of the setting control panel on the monitor’s
screen.
Move the mouse to the Right Side of the screen and the HD-10’s image control Icons will
appear.
Moving the mouse away from the sides of the monitor will remove the Icons from the screen.
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HD-10 Control Icons
The following image provides a fast description and location of the various Control Icon that
are available for you to control the Mallincam HD-10 camera using just a HDMI Monitor.
Mouse
on Left
Side of
Monitor
Mouse
on Right
Side of
Monitor
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The Action Icons appropriate icons appear on the various sides of the Monitor when the
Mouse Cursor is placed in that area. Moving the mouse away from the sides causes the
Icons and Open Windows to disappear.
Detailed Icon Description
Camera Icon
Clicking on this Icon will tell the Mallincam HD-10 to save the current image on the SD card
inserted into the back on the camera. The format of the image will be JPEG (.jpg). Once the
image has been saved, the HD-10 Camera will revert back to live view.
Settings Icon
Clicking on this Icon will tell the Mallincam HD-10 to pop-up a settings Window on the Left
Side of the Monitor.
Settings Control
Clicking on the Settings Icon will open-up or close the Settings Control Window.
This window allows you to:
• turn on or off auto exposure.
• Set exposure
• Set Gain, Gamma, Contrast, and Saturation
• Tweak the Color values
• Set the Brightness, Sharpness, and Denoise values
• Take a Snapshot
• Take a Video
• Choose anti-flicker frequency
Moving the mouse cursor away from the left-side of the HDMI
Monitor’s Window will cause the Icons and Settings Control
Window to disappear, Moving the mouse cursor back to the leftside of the HDMI Monitor’s Window will bring back the Icons and
Settings Control Window.
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Image Action Window
Flip Horizontally Click on this Icon to Move the left side of
the image to the right side, and the right
side of the image to the left.
Flip Vertically Click on this Icon to Move the top of the
image to the bottom of the window and
the bottom of the image to the top of the
window.
Zoom in Click on this Icon to zoom in, or click and
hold to zoom in continuously until maximum
is reached. Zoom Range from 1x to 10x.
Zoom out Click on this Icon to zoom out, or click and
hold to zoom out continuously until
minimum is reached. Zoom range from 10x
to 1x.
Mask Click on this Icon and the mouse cursor will
change to a hand. Now Click-Hold-andDrag the hand-cursor to create a box on
the screen. Only the portion of the image
inside the box will be visible, the remainder
will be blacked-out. You can now place
your hand cursor inside the box, and Click-
Hold-and-Drag the box to various areas of
the screen to view different parts of the
total image. To return the Image Window to
full screen just Right-Click anywhere on the
screen.
Division Cancel Click on this Icon to return the Image
Window to the full current image being
picked up by the HD-10. This Icon control is
used after using the Compare Images Icon.
Inset a
Crossline Click on this Icon to place a Red Crosshair on the Image Window. Click
on the Icon again to change the crosshairs to Green. Click on it again to
remove the crosshairs from the Image Window.
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Compare Images Click on this Icon to Display currently saved images on the SD card. A
larger box will contain the live image from the HD-10 camera. Located
on the bottom of the screen are controls to scan forward (right arrow) or
backward (left arrow) through other images on the SD card. The Home
Icon will return the Image window the full live image.
Left-Clicking on any of the Saved images will split the screen with that
Saved Image on the left half of the Image Window, and the current live
image on the right half of the Image Window. You can Left-Click-Holdand Drag both the left-half (saved image) and right-half (live image) so
that you can compare the part of the saved image to a particular part
of the live image. To return back to your full live image, use the Division
Cancel Icon.
Browse Images Clicking on this Icon will display the first 12 saved images located on the
SD card. Use Left or Right arrows located on the bottom of the screen to
load the previous or the next set of images.
Clicking on a saved image will make that image full size for viewing
pleasure, or start the Video File if you clicked on a video recording.
Clicking on the X Icon will provide you an option to permanently delete
that saved image from the SD Card. Click on the House Icon to return
back to the 12 Panel Saved Image Window.
Once in the 12 Panel Saved Image Window, clicking on the House Icon
will return you back to the live full screen image being displayed by the
Mallincam HD-10 camera.
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Imaging with the Camera
You have attached the Mallincam HD-10 camera to the telescope, and have connected
the power, mouse, and HDMI cables. You have also removed the lens cap from the
telescope (how many times do we forget this step). And, you are now read to image.
You should be seeing an image (it may be out of focus, too bright, or even too dim) on your
HDMI monitor.
Move the mouse icon to the left side of your monitor, you should see two icons
automatically pop-up.
Click on the bottom icon (the Settings Icon), and a Settings Control Window will pop-up. The
HD-10 remembers when this window is clicked open, and it will automatically appear when
you next move the mouse icon to the left side of your monitor.
We will use this window to help get the correct exposure and set other adjustments to tweak
the image to our satisfaction.
Step 1
Step 2
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As a starting point, move the mouse cursor to the Auto
Exposure box, and make sure it is checked. This will give us a
starting point for the exposure setting.
The current exposure value (as determined by the Auto
Exposure Control), will now appear in the Exposure box.
You can select an exposure range from 1 micro-seconds all the way to 10 seconds
Uncheck the Auto Exposure (the exposure setting will not change), and now by using your
mouse icon. Click on the little up and down arrows in the appropriate Exposure settings
control (s-seconds, 100ms, and ms), to provide an exposure value to your liking.
You can also now adjust the Gain (Left-Click-Hold-and-Drag the gain slider) to make the
image brighter or dimmer. You will get more comfortable with finding to best exposure/gain
values for your image. Play with them to see how the exposure and the gain values affects
your image. Gain is a setting that controls the amplification of the signal from the camera
sensor to the screen. Too much amplification can cause noise in the image.
The next three commands will allow us to tweak the image further by
adjusting the Gamma, Contrast, and Saturation values on the HD-10.
By using the mouse cursor, Left-Click-Hold-and-Drag the slider bar of each of the Gamma,
Contrast, and Saturation controls to produce an image that meets your requirements.
Gamma - Each pixel in an image has brightness level, called luminance. This value is
between 0 to 1, where 0 means complete darkness (black), and 1 is brightest
(white). Different display devices (monitor, phone screen, TV) do not display
luminance correctly. So, one needs to correct them, therefore the gamma
correction function allows you to brighten the dimmer area for the image, or
darken the brighter area of the image.
Contrast - Contrast is the scale of difference between black and white in your images.
Without contrast you wouldn't have an image because there wouldn't be any
differentiation between light and dark; everything would be black, white, or a
single shade of grey somewhere in between.
Saturation - Saturation is similar to contrast, however instead of increasing the separation
between shadows and highlights, we increase the separation between colors.
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
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The next three commands will allow us to tweak the colors of the image
further by adjusting the Red, Green, and Blue values.
By using the mouse cursor, Left-Click-Hold-and-Drag the slider bar of each of the Red,
Green, and Blue controls to produce an image whose colors that meets your requirements.
The Final three commands will allow us to tweak the display of the image
further by adjusting the Brightness, Sharpness, and Denoise values.
By using the mouse cursor, Left-Click-Hold-and-Drag the slider bar of each of the Brightness,
Sharpness, and Denoise controls to produce an image that meets your requirements.
Brightness - Traditional brightness simply brightens the entire image from the shadows to
the highlights equally. When increasing brightness, you may find that you lose
some contrast on the brightest details in the image while the rest of the
image has the same contrast as before.
Sharpness - Sharpness can be defined as edge contrast, that is, the contrast along edges
in a object in the image. When we increase sharpness, we increase the
contrast only along/near edges in the object while leaving smooth areas of
the image alone.
Denoise - All cameras produce some form of noise (especially when you increase the
exposure time), the denoise control can help eliminate the typical noise that
is picked-up. Be careful, as the more aggressive you set the denoise control,
the more often actual captured data will be removed on your image.
Balance is the key.
Step 6
Step 7
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If after making control adjustment of your image and it looks worse that when you started
(this happens as you slowly learn what controls best work for your system), you can display
click on the Default Button located on the bottom right of the Control window. The
Mallincam HD-10 will reset all of the controls back to their defaults.
Your electrical power system way cause cycle flickering of the image, if this rare case
occurs click on either the 50 Hz (Europe) or 60 Hz (North America) check boxes to see if this
improves the image. Normally 60 Hz is the default setting for our equipment.
Now that you have the image tweak to your perfection (it takes a while to
learn what controls work best for your telescope combination. You now can
either Save a snapshot or start a video recording of what is being captured.
Images and recordings are saved onto your SD data card.
To save a JPEG snapshot of whatever image is currently on your monitor, just click on the
Camera Icon. The Mallincam HD-10 will automatically save the image on the SD Card (the
image name will temporarily pop-up in the middle of the screen, such as IMG0001.JPG.
To Start a .avi (VID001.AVI) recording of the images being captured on HD-10, just click on
the Video Camera Icon. The status timer will appear and the lower right side of the image
indicating how long the video currently is. To stop the recording, just click again on the
Video Camera Icon.
You can use the Browse Images Icon (from the right side of the screen), to view or delete
the saved snapshot or video file.
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4. The Mallincam HD-10 with a Computer
Connecting the HD-10 to your Computer
First make sure you have the following pieces of equipment:
• Mallincam HD-10 Camera
• 1.25” C nose-piece adapter
• SD Card (inserted into SD slot on back of Camera)
• 12V Power Adapter
• USB Cable
• Recommended USB extension cable
• Laptop or Computer
First Time Installation of Software
Copy the ISCaptue Software from the provided USB Stick (or the latest download from
Mallincam.net) into folder of your choice on your computer.
Unzip the ISCapture Software
➢ Right-Click -> Extract All
Open the extracted ISCapture Folder.
The ISCapture install program will be inside this folder.
Double-Click on the program to start the installation process.
The following window should appear:
Click on Next to continue the installation process.
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An Acceptance Window will now appear.
Either accept the file location for the ISCApture Software to be installed in or choose a folder
of your choice. We recommend accepting the default location.
Click on Next to pop-up the Codec Plugin window.
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Select the codecs to include if you plan on recording your imaging.
Click on Next to accept the Confirmation Windows.
Click on Yes to accept and then the Xvid Setup Window will appear.
Click on Next to accept the Window and then the Licence Agreement Acceptance
Window will appear.
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