Review of "CCD Imaging Techniques" video by Pyros Pictures

Greg Pyros graciously sent me a copy of the new video tape his company
produced for review. I'm very very typical of a potential purchaser of
such a video on basic considerations for getting started in CCD imaging
since I have never used this type of camera or related equipment. My
only knowledge of the subject comes from reading and editing the posts
that come across this list and become a part of the Mapug Topical Archive.

After popping the tape into the VCR, the opening scene shows the high
production values as parts of telescopes fly from behind the viewer out
into the foreground and assemble into three complete telescopes-- very
cool! They are all Meades as they were kind enough to loan the equipment
primarily used in the presentation. The first information given is very
basic stuff about the designs of refractors, Newtonian reflectors, SCTs
and Maks and mounts, but not much time is devoted to this so it passes
quickly (not assuming anything on the part of the viewer is the best
approach). As other concepts are presented, such as periodic error
correction, battery power, dew prevention, off-axis guiders, polar
alignment, etc., the broad picture of just how much effort and resources
are going to be required begins to pile up. And along the way good tips
are dropped in, like running the cables of the camera up to the Dec axis
and then down to remove strain and possible weight shift. The tape ends
with basic image processing where the concepts are graphically
illustrated, like showing ten short images as a stack of pages that
collapse down to a single image by the use of the stacking command go a
long way to make a mental image of what is happening. Again, the
production values are high.

I believe this tape is best for those who haven't made their purchase
decisions yet, but are in the process of exploring what all is involved
in getting into this part of the hobby. It reminds me a lot of a similar
video presentation on building a log home that my wife & I purchased
several years ago-- after it ended 1.5 hours later, we knew that the
project was beyond our abilities, time, and resources. I think this
video will do the same for prospective imagers-- it will either excite
them into making the plunge or will make them pause to think about the
commitment before investing hundreds or thousands of dollars.

My only suggestion to Greg would be to include the word "basic" or
similar phrase in the title, but otherwise I think it is a well-thought
out production, informative, and enjoyable.

For more information and/or to order: <http://www.AstroVideos.com>
The introductory price is $39.95

Ed Stewart, Colorado Rocky Mountains <stargazer@skymtn.com>
Personal website at: <http://www.skymtn.com/>
Maintainer of the www.MAPUG.com website