It was obvious early on that digital was the way to go for quantitative work, even though software that did what you needed to do was hard to come by. In fact, I spent many times more hours writing software than scanning plates. Fast-forward about a dozen years. The first fairly decent and reliable CCD cameras are now available to well-heeled amateurs. CCD chips available for what turns out to be very little money.
Many readers entertain notions of possibly building their own camera, but few succeed.
The Cookbook gives instructions on how to put together two different cameras, the CB211 and the CB245. The cameras were similar enough that one could upgrade a CB211 to a CB245, but most decide to build the latter right from the start. I got the book shortly after it came out, read it, but didn't start building a camera right away because of several concerns about the design. But I thought I wanted to build a camera eventually. A small grant from The Society of Physics Students made possible the purchase of an SBIG ST-4 CCD camera.