Adjust Palette, Contrast, Brightness, and Zoom

Use this when

The sonar image is too dark, washed out, or contacts are hard to distinguish from the background. The display controls let you change the color palette and fine-tune brightness, contrast, and zoom until targets stand out clearly.

Before you start

A recording must be open and visible in the viewer. Display changes apply immediately and can be adjusted at any time during review.

Open the display controls

1. Click the Display settings button in the playback bar at the bottom of the viewer. It uses a sliders/tune icon and is labelled "Display settings" in its tooltip.
2. A popover panel opens with all display options.

Change the palette

1. Click the Palette dropdown in the display popover.
2. Choose from the available palettes:

• Deep Copper — the default. A dark red-brown ramp that emphasizes hard returns in copper tones.
• Classic Amber — factory amber style matching Humminbird HELIX and SOLIX units. Dark to yellow-white.
• Hot Amber — warmer, more saturated amber with red-orange mid-tones.
• Blue Contrast — cool blue ramp for high-contrast separation.
• Soft Brown — muted earth tones, reduced eye fatigue on long sessions.
• Green Highlight — green ramp useful for picking out vegetation or soft bottom returns.
• High Contrast — green-to-red gradient for maximum separation between weak and strong returns.
• Classic Color — multi-color original palette.
• Grayscale — neutral black-to-white.
• Inverted Grayscale — white-to-black; strong returns appear dark.

1. The canvas updates immediately.

Adjust brightness and contrast

1. Drag the Brightness slider left to darken the image or right to brighten it. Range: -100 to +100.
2. Drag the Contrast slider left to flatten the image or right to increase separation between signal levels. Range: -100 to +100.
3. Both sliders show the current value as a signed number next to the label.

Adjust zoom

1. Drag the Zoom X slider to stretch or compress the image horizontally (across-track). Range: 0.5× to 16×.
2. Drag the Zoom Y slider to stretch or compress the image vertically (along-track / depth). Range varies by view; the minimum is set to preserve a readable image.
3. Values appear in the format 1.0×.

Show or hide no-data ranges

Toggle Show no-data ranges to fill gaps in the recording with a visible color rather than leaving them transparent. Useful when diagnosing missing data in a file.

What you should see

The canvas updates in real time as you move any slider or change the palette. Contacts should appear as distinct bright spots or shadows against the background depending on your palette choice.

If it does not work

• Canvas does not respond to slider changes — the display popover may have lost focus. Click directly on a slider handle and drag.
• Image looks correct in popover preview but not in main view — close and reopen the popover; the view synchronizes on close.
• Targets still not visible after adjusting — try a high-contrast palette such as High Contrast or Blue Contrast and increase contrast to +30 or higher. If targets remain invisible, the returns may be very weak; try reducing brightness slightly to bring out subtler differences.