Mallincam Cross-hair Reticle
This post is an explanation of how to use the Mallincam’s mask function to setup a cross-hair reticle that can be used to accomplish a “goto” star alignment and align a piggy-backed scope with a main scope. This is a feature that was discovered by Rock Mallin (developer of the Mallincam). Rock was the first to use this feature in his video finderscope. Jack Huerkamp had mentioned this feature being on the video finderscope and my curiosity was piqued about the possibility of using it on my Mallincam Color Hyper Plus. After some experimenting, I was able to duplicate the reticle cross-hairs on my MCHP and I’ve been using the Mallincam’s mask function as a cross-hair reticle on my LX200 and piggy-backed ST120 for several months now with outstanding results. When used to align the “goto” function of my LX200, the “goto” accuracy of my LX200 places objects directly in the center of the Mallincam’s chip. And when I’ve used the Mallincam’s reticle to align the two scopes with each other, objects have been centered in both scopes when the Mallicam is moved from one scope to the other. The Mallincam’s cross-hair reticle has greatly simplified and improved the alignment process for me. I took the time Rock was getting his video findercam ready for market to experiment with the Mallincam’s masks, but after messages from Rock and Jack Heuerkamp recently, we’ve determined it’s ok to share this information with our Mallincam community. I checked to see if this has been covered in any of the forums and couldn’t find anything so I hope you’ll be able to use this explanation.
Begin the reticle setup by selecting the “Options Set” from the Main Menu and turn the A, B, C, and D masks on. (See images below. Click on an image for a larger view - to pan through images, move cursor to right side of image window and click - to see previous image - move cursor to left side of image window and click.)
 Options Menu |
 Masks turned on |
Once the masks have been turned on, it’s time to adjust their size. I would suggest you set the masks up in the following manner: Mask A is to be the Left Horizontal reticle line; Mask B is to be Upper Vertical reticle line; Mask C is to be the Lower Vertical reticle line; and Mask D will be the Right Horizontal reticle line. Begin adjusting the size of the reticles starting with the A Mask - after pressing the center Mallincam button to select the A Mask, select Size and then press the Mallincam’s Up arrow button to reduce the vertical size of the A mask. Similarly, reduce the horizontal size of the B mask; the horizontal size of the C mask, and the vertical size of the D mask using the appropriate arrow buttons on the Mallincam. (See images below.)
Adjustment Menu
 A mask size adjusted |
 B mask adjusted |
 C mask adjusted |
 D mask adjusted |
Now that you have adjusted the size of the masks to make them appear as thin lines, you need to move the masks into their respective positions as reticle cross-hairs. After selecting “Location”, use the down arrow button on the Mallincam to move the A mask down to what will be the left half of the horizontal centerline. Move the B mask to the left where it will become the upper half of the vertical centerline. Move the C mask to the right where it becomes the lower half of the vertical centerline. Finally, move the D mask up to become the right half of the horizontal centerline. Bring the lines as close together as you desire to either leave no gap between the lines or leave a gap at the center of the reticle as I have done below.
 A and D masks relocated to horizontal centerline |
 B and C masks relocated to vertical centerline |
At this point, you can leave the reticle lines as they are or using the “Size” option you can extend them to the edges of the field of view. Which you do is a matter of personal choice.
 Masks in final position |
 Full reticle |
When you exit the Options Menu and return to the Main Menu, Save and Exit as you normally would and your reticle will be saved. Turning the masks off does not delete your reticle settings. Be careful about resetting the Mallincam’s settings to the Preset values. Doing so will reset the masks. The masks can now be turned on and off at any time by returning to the Options Menu and turning the masks either on or off individually.
If you have any problems setting up the masks as a reticle on your Mallincam, either drop me a line or give me a call at 702-461-1390.