Software for imaging

[Rossco72]

Guys,

I'm almost there kit wise and now i nned to think about software.

At the moment I have been using Artemis Capture to take images and DSS to stack them. My guiding has been done by my LVI but as I go to using a finder guider and/or OAG I will need software to take care of my guiding.

I looked at MaximDL and that seems to fit the bill but at $600 it's pretty expensive if it's overkill. So I was wondering what everyone else is using???

Cheers

[shaunster]

Cant beat artemis capture for what it does IMO, however maxim is better than DSS for calibration/alignment and stacking but that comes at a cost. Maxim can also do much more such as plate solving, control image and guide cameras, combine LRGB and so on..

I guide with PHD though and never had any problems with it yet.

[ncjunk]

If you dont need maxpoint it is only 499$...a little bit better. I use that version but was lucky enough to buy it when it was 2$ to the pound so it was a bit cheaper than now.

I haven't used anything else apart from phd guiding which i think i prefer in some ways.

[Merlin66]

For a lot less, AstroArt V5 can do 99% of what you'll ever need. Good product support.

I use it with modded Canon 1000D, MX916, ATik16 and ATik 413L cameras.

Worth checking out....

[ollypenrice]

The obvious alternative to Maxim is AstroArt. I've been using it since I started on Ian King's recommendation. The latest version (which I'm too idle to have downloaded) does, I believe, deal with rotation in stacking. Version 4 only stacks in x and y so if your PA is out you need to make substacks and co register them.

I like it more than DSS because I can see what it's doing, though. It is very good for OSC processing, too.

I'm reluctant to quit Artemis Capture because it works a treat but I don't know how to get it to communicate with the guide software in order to dither. This is where doing everything in one software makes life easier.

I have never met anyone who regretted buying Maxilm though. Plate solving would be very handy.

Olly

PS Sorry to Ken, we crossed in the post.

[Rossco72]

AstroArt certainly looks like a more reasonable price and seems to me to do a lot of things similar to Maxim for a third the price....

Any other views?

[gary1968]

I use the Canon software that came with my camera for capture, PHD for guiding, EQMod for mount control and DSS/Photoshop for processing.

Gary

[perfrej]

Capture: Nebulosity2

Dark-/Flat-/Light-processing: Nebulosity2

Debayer: Nebulosity2

Align/Stack: Pixinsight

Process: Pixinsight

Nebulosity does really good debayer and basic dark/flat stuff, but the stacking is not as good as Pixinsight. PI does rotation, skew and what have you in the aligment process and the rest of the toolbox is just fantastic, albeit wit a steep learing curve.

/p

[NickK]

Nebulosity 2 supports rotational stacking and so does PixInsight.

Nebulosity is slow (even in scrolling for large images) whereas PixInsight is very quick although seems to make things very complicated for what it is doing!

[mark7331]

I've recently switched to Artemis Capture because it's nice and simple. I used to use AstroArt 4 to collect subs after aligning/focusing with Artemis but changed because I just didn't need the complexity of switching to AA.

For guidng I PHP - it's free and works well.

PixInsight for stacking/processing.

Mark

[RobH]

I use Maxim for capture and calibration, and it's brilliant, but still use PHD for guiding and see no reason to change as it works fine.

I'd suggest sticking to DSS until you find things that it can't do, and use PHD for guiding.....free is a very good price

Rob