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Mickey
member
Reged: 09/18/09
Posts: 17
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After trying with no success to find an app for my iPhone that would put it in red screen mode while using the phone for texting, regular phone use, browsing Cloudy Nights, etc... I finally gave up and decided to my own home-made red screen to my Otter Box iPhone protective case.
Otter Box iPhone protective case
So, I took my iPhone protective casing off and popped out the clear plastic film to use and trace out a copy of the clear film's shape onto the sheet of red film I purchased at the local hobby shop. It took a little trimming back from the edges to get it to fit nicely into the protective case.
iPhone protective casing and new red film cut-out
Once I had the inserted the red film and the original clear film back into the Otter Box protect case, I tested my iPhone to make sure it would still scroll and all the buttons function right. The test was very successful and with the addition of the red film everything worked perfectly. So I then stretched and snapped the rubber outer body back on the inner hard plastic protective casing.
Scrolling and button test run
Time for a test run!
With my new home-made iPhone red screen installed I tested out my favorite astronomy app "SkyVoyager".
SkyVoyager has a setting for Night Vision and works well when the application is launched and running... but using the iPhone for other things outside SkyVoyager reverts back to the iPhones normal brightness with no night vision settings.
My home-made red screen worked good with SkyVoyager's night vision setting turned off and enhanced SkyVoyager's existing night vision settings even more. Example of the home-made iPhone red screen with SkyVoyager's night vision enabled.
SkyVoyager with camera flash off
SkyVoyager with camera flash on
Now I can jump from SkyVoyager to any other area of my iPhone and not be blinded by my iPhone in the process.
Next I tested out my iPhone's web browsing, because when I create a new blank web page on the iPhone it creates one of the brightest moments that I could expect to see. So I turned off the lights in my office and launched my iPhone's web browser. Success - No blinding white blank web page. I then browsed to Cloudy Nights to see how well I could see text, links and move around the site. No issues and my new home-made red screen performed great.
Web browsing with camera flash off
Web browsing with camera flash on
Now I just need to get outside, let my eyes adjust to the dark and give it a full test run with my telescope.
Note: The photos without my camera's flash turned on appear brighter than they actually are in person and the color is off a bit.
Edited by Mickey (11/07/09 01:32 AM)
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Midnight Dan
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/23/08
Posts: 2736
Loc: Brockport, NY
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Nice! I've got some Rubylith film; I'll have to give that a try!
-Dan
--------------------
Scopes: Celestron NexStar 8SE, Orion EON 72mm ED/APO, Orion ShortTube 80
Mounts: NexStar Alt/Az GoTo, Orion Astroview (EQ3) w/single axis drive
Eyepieces: Baader Hyperion 36mm (Aspheric), 21mm 13mm, 8mm, 5mm;
Other: 2x & 3x Barlow, 0.63x Focal Reducer, Dew-not strips, DewBuster controller, SQM Meter
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psonice
super member
Reged: 07/24/09
Posts: 155
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Ah, missed this thread. I've been investigating red screen options for iphone myself (I write iphone software).
There's a major catch of course: writing an app to turn the screen red is fairly easy, but when you close the app to send a mail or whatever it's no longer red. The lock screen is a major issue too.
I think for it to be workable, 2 things are needed:
1. Jailbroken iphone. You need this to run software in the background, which is essential if you want to do anything to other running software and the unlock screen.
2. Access to the display hardware's gamma tables. This is where you set the colour settings, and force it to red (this is how my RedScreen software for OSX works).
The jailbreaking part is already well catered for of course, but has anyone come across a way to access the gamma tables on iphone OS? It's part of CG on osx, but unfortunately the relevant bits are missing :/
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Mickey
member
Reged: 09/18/09
Posts: 17
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Finally had an opportunity to try out my iPhone with the red film installed and it worked great... a lot better than I expected. I was able to jump from one app to another with no interruption to my night vision.
I left the red film installed for a week during day use too and it did make it a little difficult to use the iphone outside in the sun, so I finally decided that I wouldn't leave installed permanently. It takes about a minute to install and remove, so it's not much trouble to mess with and does make a big difference while observing.
I would like to find an iphone red screen app that would work across all apps on the iphone. But until someone writes the app, this will do the trick.
Mickey
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Mickey
member
Reged: 09/18/09
Posts: 17
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Quote:
Ah, missed this thread. I've been investigating red screen options for iphone myself (I write iphone software).
There's a major catch of course: writing an app to turn the screen red is fairly easy, but when you close the app to send a mail or whatever it's no longer red. The lock screen is a major issue too.
I think for it to be workable, 2 things are needed:
1. Jailbroken iphone. You need this to run software in the background, which is essential if you want to do anything to other running software and the unlock screen.
2. Access to the display hardware's gamma tables. This is where you set the colour settings, and force it to red (this is how my RedScreen software for OSX works).
The jailbreaking part is already well catered for of course, but has anyone come across a way to access the gamma tables on iphone OS? It's part of CG on osx, but unfortunately the relevant bits are missing :/
psonice, post up if you get an app working that stays in red screen mode during all iphone use... I'd certainly like to get my hands on such an app.
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