For those of you considering going into CCD imaging, this may be the product for you.

The Santa Barbara Instruments SBIG-4 is a three-in-one product. It is an excellent auto-guider, adaptable to most dual driven equatorial mounts and platforms. As a guider, it is self contained. You don't need a computer to use it with your telescope. It also works with a computer as a CCD imager.

I have found that even with this small CCD chip, the images are very good. You can measure the distance between stars with accurate results.

At one time, this product had a list price of S850, but now you can acquire it for S599 or less, depending upon the dealer. This price reduction makes this product an attractive consideration for a new addition to your equipment bag.

The manual is straightforward and the directions easy to follow. You will be up and running in no time. You may want to ask your dealer if there is a pre-made cable for your type of mount. You could save valuable time making the right wire connections into your scope.

The software to control the camera is also easy to work with. It was plug-and- play, right from the start! Well, almost.

The software for the SBIG-Q is a DOS based program. Used on a laptop running Windows 95, the software worked. But it didn't detect the camera was connected to the com port. So I couldn't use this particular computer. The com port must be configured by the operating system first.I did solve the problem by aquiring a 286 laptop. Now everything works great!

I would like to send a special thanks to Ed Siemann for the use of his laptop and the frustrating hours he spent trying to get it to work. And, Neil McMickle, for his wisdom with CCD imaging and for sending me in the right direction with the software. And, Don Odegard, for having the 286 laptop I so desperately needed to enjoy this new way to observe and document the galaxies, star clusters, nebula and planets in the universe.