Oculus PRO Colour Handbook Issue 1
Handbook for the SX ‘Oculus PRO Colour’
High resolution All-Sky camera
Thank you for purchasing a Starlight Xpress ‘Oculus PRO Colour’ all sky camera. We hope that you will be
very pleased with the performance of this product. Please register your product and warranty at
https://forms.gle/tmsHEJfQG2bLJjr57
.
The Oculus PRO Colour is a high resolution, very compact wide-field camera. The camera and
internal dew heaters are powered through the 12V DC input and camera is controlled via a single
USB2.0 computer connection. The colour version is intended for full-sky monitoring of weather,
clouds, pollution etc. but can be used at night by opening the aperture of the lens. It will provide
high quality images, while operating unattended for long periods. The ‘megapixel’ resolution F/2
fish-eye lens provides horizon to horizon coverage with very little star image distortion across the
entire field.
The Oculus PRO Colour utilises a sensitive Sony CCD (the ICX825AQ) with an array of 1392 x 1040
pixels in a ‘2/3rd-inch’ format sensor. Although the chip is not cooled, it has a very low dark signal
and very little readout noise, so it can be used to image faint stars at night by opening up the lens
stop and extending the exposure times. The small pixel size and high resolution lens give excellent
definition and a good sized screen image format.
A strong polycarbonate hemispherical dome houses the lens assembly and this dome is easily
removed for cleaning, when necessary, a spare dome is also included with the Oculus PRO Colour. A
12v DC input socket provides power to the camera and the dew sensing circuitry which controls the
internal heating resistor to be to prevent dewing of the lens and dome on humid nights. The entire
assembly comes equipped with a standard tripod bracket for mounting.
