Craterlet is a legacy, freeware video capture software application designed primarily for astrophotography and planetary/lunar imaging. Developed by Stark Labs—the creators well-known in the amateur astronomy community for software like PHD Guiding and Nebulosity—it served as a utility to capture raw video streams from early webcams and entry-level CCD cameras.
The name “Craterlet” is a playful nod to its primary use-case: recording high-frame-rate videos of the Moon to capture tiny lunar craters (craterlets) through a telescope. Core Purpose and Functionality
In the 2000s and early 2010s, astrophotographers discovered that standard commercial webcams (like the Philips ToUcam) could be modified for planetary imaging. Craterlet was designed specifically to facilitate this workflow:
Lucky Imaging Feed: It allowed users to record uncompressed or low-compression video feeds (typically in .avi format). These clips were later fed into stacking software like Registax or AutoStakkert to filter out atmospheric distortion and create sharp images.
Camera Compatibility: The software strictly supports webcam-style video capture interfaces using DirectX (DirectShow) and standard WDM-compliant drivers. It was frequently used to control older hardware such as the Meade LPI (Lunar Planetary Imager) and early Orion StarShoot cameras.
Basic Manual Controls: It provided simple sliders to manipulate basic camera settings in real-time, including brightness, contrast, saturation, hue, sharpness, and gain. Community Reception and Limitations
While Craterlet was appreciated for being incredibly lightweight, simple, and free, it had notable limitations that have been documented by the imaging community on forums like Cloudy Nights:
Fixed Interface: The software featured a relatively small, rigid user interface (often locked around a 600×400 window) that could not be maximized, making fine-focusing on small laptop screens a challenge.
Arbitrary Scales: Instead of displaying absolute exposure times (e.g., 1/250th of a second), exposure and gain settings were mapped to arbitrary slider scales (such as 0 to 63), requiring a bit of trial and error from the user.
No Modern Driver Support: It does not natively support modern dedicated astronomy camera protocols (like native ASCOM or proprietary ZWO/QHY drivers), restricting it purely to standard Windows webcam feeds. Current Status
Craterlet is considered legacy software. While it can still be found on archival software sites and may run on older Windows setups, the astrophotography community has largely migrated to more advanced, feature-rich, and actively maintained capture applications:
SharpCap, which offers advanced sensor analysis, polar alignment tools, and native support for modern CMOS cameras.
FireCapture, a highly regarded, free alternative dedicated entirely to high-speed planetary and lunar video logging.
If you are planning to use Craterlet for a project, please share what specific camera hardware or operating system you are running. I can check compatibility or recommend modern, free alternatives that fit your setup. Craterlet or K3CCD Tools – Imaging – Stargazers Lounge
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