For amateur astronomers who process Cookbook CCD camera images using Richard Berry's CB245, Multi245, Color245, and QColor image processing software.
CB245 is the program that Richard Berry developed for processing his own Cookbook CCD camera images. It carries out a full suite of image processing functions including:
CB245 costs $49.95 plus $3 for shipping to any place in North America, $6 for Europe, and $9 for Asia, Africa, and Australia. Included sample images, sample scripts, a set of color palettes, and detailed manual.
CB245 is a dynamic product that undergoes continuous upgrading in performance and features. When you order CB245, you are entitled to one year's upgrades. If you are a registered CB245 user and have an earlier version of CB245, get your update. Place your original distribution diskette in a self-addressed stamped diskette mailer inside a large envelope and mail to Richard Berry.
Multi245 puts powerful stack-and-track imaging techniques into the hands of Cookbook CCD camera builders. Overcome the limitations of a less-than-ideal clock drive by shooting 10, 20, 40, even 60 short integrations. Use Multi245 to combine them into a single deep exposure.
Multi245 also makes CCD "movies." Capture a sequence of images using Multiple Image Mode, then automatically register the frames using Multi245. Next, convert the registered frames into a movie. At 15 full-screen frames per second, motion on the screen is smooth. See planets rotate, comets move against the star background!
Multi245 is the software that Richard Berry wrote for his own deep-sky imaging projects with the Cookbook CCD camera. Here are the major tasks that Multi245 carries out:
Multi245 costs $49.95 plus $3 for shipping to any place in North America, $6 for Europe, and $9 for Asia, Africa, and Australia. Multi245 includes Movie245, sample files, and manual.
If you are a registered Multi245 user and have an earlier version of Multi245, get your update. Place your original distribution diskette in a self-addressed stamped diskette mailer inside a large envelope and mail to Richard Berry.
Color245 is the direct descendant of ColorPIX, the software that Don Parker uses to create his outstanding images of the planets in color. Performs all the functions you need to convert calibrated monochrome FITS images into accurate color images of the heavens. One-hundred percent compatible with CB245 and Multi245. Use track-and-stack processing to shoot color images of very faint celestial objects.
This color image of M17 was made from 6 red images, 10 green images, and 21 blue images of 60 seconds integration each, track-and-stacked and then combined using Color245. Taken with a 4-inch f/5 Genesis refractor.
Color245 is a tricolor synthesis program for combining Cookbook 211 and Cookbook 245 images into color pictures. This software accepts calibrated images in the FITS format, and is 100% compatible with images processed in CB245 and Multi245. Color is saved as 24-bit TIF and 24-bit BMP files.
Color245 provides all the functions necessary for converting three filtered monochrome images into accurate color pictures. After loading the three images, you resample them to make square pixels, register them quickly by blinking or to subpixel accuracy using centroiding, automatically color balance images taken with widely differing integration times, and finally fine-tune the color balance using the Adjust Color function.
Auxiliary functions allow you to rotate, translate, and scale individual images, and to edit discordant pixels. Color245 is designed to work with my other software, so you can calibrate, register, or stack-and-track monochrome images using CB245 or Multi245, then go to Color245 for the final steps.
Good News: Color245 runs on computers with a standard VGA card. Using a special three-color rastering technique, the limited color palette of the standard VGA adapter is expanded to display millions of colors, permitting you to evaluate and correct the color balance to exactly what you wish. Runs okay on a 386; fast on a 486; zippy on a Pentium.
For tricolor imaging, I strongly recommend dichroic color separation filters from Edmund Scientific, stock #52529 (red), #52535 (green), and #52532 (blue) in the 2-inch diameter, costing about $60 for all three. These filters have transmit about 90%, far better than standard glass Wratten color filters. You will also need an infrared rejection filter from Corion or Murnaghan (~$120). Track-and-stack processing makes color images feasible even for very faint objects.
Color245 costs $49.95 plus $3 for shipping to any place in North America, $6 for Europe, and $9 for Asia, Africa, and Australia. Includes sample files and manual.
Like all my software, Color245 undergoes continuous upgrading. When you order Color245, you are entitled to one year's free upgrades. Place your original distribution diskette in a self-addressed stamped diskette mailer inside a large envelope and mail to Richard Berry.
QColor does everything Color245 does -- and more! For ambitious astro-images who want to make superior images. Performs all the functions you need to convert four calibrated monochrome FITS images into accurate color images of the heavens.
Current Color245 users can upgrade to QColor for $19.95 plus $1 shipping. Order your upgrade from Richard Berry.
QColor costs $49.95 plus $3 for shipping to any place in North America, $6 for Europe, and $9 for Asia, Africa, and Australia. Includes sample files and on-line manual.Order directly from Richard Berry.
For more information, link to the QColor On-Line User's Manual.
Dark-frame matching technology is built into CB245, Multi245, and AIP245. Dark-frame matching routines automatically scale and subtract dark frames that do not have the same integration as your images. In CB245 and AIP245, the keyboard command is DK and the script format is DARK filename. In Multi245, you simply enter the name of the dark frame and dark-frame matching is automatic. For dark matching to work, you must take images with 245PLUS and you should have drift subtract set to ON. Dark-frame matching works with non-LDC and LDC-mode images.
Dark-frame matching is much more powerful than standard dark-frame subtraction. Suppose you make a master dark frame by averaging eight integrations of 300 seconds each. Use this master dark with every image you shoot, from those images with integrations of 300 seconds to those with integrations less than one second. This means that you can shoot one master set of dark frames for the whole night -- and use them with every exposure you make.
AIP245 is a special edition of CB245 prepared by Richard Berry for sale through Willmann-Bell, Inc. It is a full-featured image-processing program that includes a manual written especially for those familiar with the original AIP program included in An Introduction to Astronomical Image Processing, and is included with current orders for that book. The combination of AIP (the book) and AIP245 (the software) is an outstanding value for the novice who wants to learn image processing and the advanced imager who wants a powerful image-processing software at a very attractive low price. Order from Willmann-Bell.
For processing images from the SpectraSource Lynxx, the SBIG ST4, the Electrim EDC-1000, the Cookbook 211, and other TC211-based cameras, nothing comes close to BatchPIX. BatchPIX does even more functions than CB245, including translation, scaling, rotation, and the automatic centering of planetary images. BatchPIX grew from the close collaboration of Richard Berry and Don Parker; virtually all of Don's published images were taken with Don's Lynxx camera and processed using BatchPIX. Available from Richard Berry.
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