KnightVision

If you have ever arrived at your telescope with no red filter for your monitor,
this utility can protect your night vision and get you through an observing session...

KnightVision is free astronomy software that changes your video card's color brightness settings. This can be used to change the video settings to something less obtrusive to night vision. Some video cards don't support this function, also known as gamma ramping, but most do. KnightVision notifies you one way or the other.

You can select predefined settings in KnightVision, or create your own, depending on how you want to protect your night vision. The settings you select are saved so that they can be applied the next time you run KnightVision. When you close KnightVision, your computer's video is restored to the original settings.

You can also create a shortcut that starts KnightVision in 'quiet' mode - the program starts with previously saved settings and minimizes to the Windows task bar. This is handy for your desktop or the Windows startup folder. This protects your night vision as quickly as possible.

Don't forget to check out our other astronomy software:

Deep-Sky Planner
Observation Planning & logging

SQM Reader Pro
Sky Quality Meter reading

KnightVision astronomy software works with Windows 11 and 32 & 64 bit editions of Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista and XP.

knightvision
'Dim Red' sets red video to 40% brightness

Release Notes

Color Presets applies predefined values to your video card immediately. You can also use the sliders to customize each color's brightness level and apply the values using the Set RGB button. This allows you to protect your night vision according to your specific needs.

To create a shortcut to KnightVision that automatically applies the saved video settings and minimize to the task bar:

Create a shortcut on the desktop or edit the one created by the installer.
Right-click on the shortcut and select Properties on the context menu.
Add -quiet to the end of the Target edit box so that the box contains something like:
"C:\Program Files\Knightware\KnightVision\1.0\Knightvision.exe" -quiet
Please note that the quote marks are usually necessary for the program path but not the -quiet option.
Save the shortcut by clicking the OK button.