A CCD camera was built in 1984 using a linear detector (Thomson TH7810A) with 1728 pixels. The simplicity of this sort of detector enabled us to gain experience with CCDs. With a linear detector it is possible to carry out spectroscopy or even two-dimensional imaging by shifting the observed field at right angles to the photosensitive strip and by acquiring data in a regular manner (the scanning technique). The limitations of this equipment soon became apparent when trying to image deep-sky objects, so a second camera was built in 1985 using a CCD array, a Thomson TH7851 with 208 × 144 pixels. Numerous improvements were later made and the most advanced model is described.