diff --git a/procprof/do_nothing.py b/procprof/do_nothing.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..48e87c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/procprof/do_nothing.py
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+from time import sleep
+
+
+def process_image(image, pulse_id, timestamp, x_axis, y_axis, parameters, bsdata=None):
+    sleep(0.01)
+
+
+
diff --git a/procprof/make_example_images.py b/procprof/make_example_images.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..0e8d0ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/procprof/make_example_images.py
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+
+import argparse
+
+parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Dump Example Images")
+parser.add_argument("-c", "--camera",  help="camera channel name", default=None)
+parser.add_argument("-i", "--input",   help="SwissFEL data file", default=None)
+parser.add_argument("-o", "--output",  help="example images as numpy dump", default="example_images.npy")
+parser.add_argument("-n", "--nimages", help="number of images", type=int, default=1000)
+
+clargs = parser.parse_args()
+
+
+import numpy as np
+from sfdata import SFDataFiles
+
+
+FPIC = ":FPICTURE"
+
+
+def main(fn_input, fn_output, camera, nimages)
+    if fn_input is None:
+        imgs = mk_rand(nimages)
+    else:
+        imgs = mk_real(fn_input, camera, nimages)
+
+    print("Writing to:", fn_output)
+    np.save(fn_output, imgs)
+
+
+def mk_rand(n):
+    print("No input file specified, will write random data")
+    return np.random.random((n, 100, 100))
+
+
+def mk_real(fn, ch, n):
+    ch = harmonize_channel(ch)
+    with SFDataFiles(fn) as f:
+        imgs = f[ch][:n]
+    nreal = len(imgs)
+    if nreal != n:
+        print(f"Warning: Got only {nreal} images from channel {ch} in {fn}")
+    return imgs
+
+def harmonize_channel(ch):
+    if not ch.endswith(FPIC):
+        ch += FPIC
+    return ch
+
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main(clargs.input, clargs.output, clargs.camera, clargs.nimages)
+
+
+
diff --git a/procprof/procprof.py b/procprof/procprof.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..f251edf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/procprof/procprof.py
@@ -0,0 +1,152 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+
+#fn_proc = "spectrometer.py"
+#fn_proc = "do_nothing.py"
+
+#fn_imgs = "example_images.npy"
+
+
+import argparse
+
+parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Profile a Processing Script")
+parser.add_argument("proc", help="processing script")
+parser.add_argument("imgs", help="example images as numpy dump")
+
+clargs = parser.parse_args()
+
+
+
+from datetime import datetime
+import cProfile as profile
+import importlib
+import numpy as np
+import os
+import pstats
+import timeit
+
+
+PROC_FUNC_NAME = "process_image"
+
+
+def main(fn_proc, fn_imgs):
+    proc = proc_import(fn_proc)
+    imgs = np.load(fn_imgs)
+
+    pulse_id = timestamp = x_axis = y_axis = None
+    parameters = {
+        "camera_name": "test"
+    }
+
+    def test():
+        for i, img in enumerate(imgs):
+#            print(i)
+            res = proc(
+                img,
+                pulse_id, timestamp, x_axis, y_axis, parameters
+            )
+
+    timestamp = datetime.now().strftime("%Y%m%d-%H%M%S")
+    os.makedirs("prof", exist_ok=True)
+    fn_base_res = f"prof/{fn_proc}-{timestamp}"
+
+    func_profile(test, fn_base_res)
+    func_timeit(test, fn_base_res)
+
+
+# profiling
+
+def func_profile(func, fn):
+    p = profile.Profile()
+    p.runcall(func)
+    p.print_stats()
+
+    fn_prof = fn + ".prof"
+    p.dump_stats(fn_prof)
+
+    fn_res = fn + ".result"
+    write_stats(p, fn_res)
+
+
+def write_stats(p, fn):
+    with open(fn, "x") as f:
+        s = pstats.Stats(p, stream=f)
+        s.print_stats()
+
+
+# timing
+
+def func_timeit(func, fn, repeat=3, number=1):
+    t = timeit.Timer(func)
+    res = t.repeat(repeat=repeat, number=number)
+    res = np.array(res)
+    res /= number
+    desc = np_describe(res)
+    desc = printable_dict(desc)
+    print(desc)
+
+    fn_res = fn + ".timing"
+    with open(fn_res, "x") as f:
+        f.write(str(res.tolist()))
+        f.write("\n\n")
+        f.write(desc)
+
+
+def np_describe(a):
+    a = np.asarray(a)
+    aggrs = (
+        min, max,
+        np.median, np.mean,
+        np.var, np.std
+    )
+    return {f.__name__: f(a) for f in aggrs}
+
+
+def printable_dict(d, header=None):
+    length = maxstrlen(d) + 1
+    lines = ("{}:{}{}".format(k, " "*(length-strlen(k)), v) for k, v in d.items())
+
+    if header:
+        header = format_header(header)
+        lines = [header] + lines
+
+    return "\n".join(lines) + "\n"
+
+
+def maxstrlen(seq):
+    seq = [str(i) for i in seq]
+    return maxlen(seq)
+
+def maxlen(seq):
+    if not seq: # max of empty sequence is a ValueError
+        return 0
+    return max(len(i) for i in seq)
+
+def strlen(x):
+    return len(str(x))
+
+
+# importing
+
+def proc_import(fn):
+    proc = fn_import(fn)
+    if not hasattr(proc, PROC_FUNC_NAME):
+        msg = f"file \"{fn}\" does not contain processing function: {PROC_FUNC_NAME}"
+        raise ValueError(msg)
+    return proc.process_image
+
+def fn_import(fn):
+    mod = remove_suffix(fn, ".py")
+    return importlib.import_module(mod)
+
+def remove_suffix(string, suffix):
+    if string.endswith(suffix):
+        string = string[:-len(suffix)]
+    return string
+
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main(clargs.proc, clargs.imgs)
+
+
+