Dithering in Maxim - what settings to use?

[Martin-Devon]

Hi there, I want to try out dithering to see if it adds any benefits to my data. Maxim offers this under the Autosave options. I tried this out last week using the Dither Via Mount option, and with the Maximum Deviation set to 0.5 pixel - however, the PHD trace then went pretty haywire with fairly sharp and high continuous see-sawing, so I stopped.

Can I just ask, if anybody similarly uses Maxim to dither, what options and settings do you use?

Thanks for your help on this,

Martin

[swag72]

I use Maxim to dither and use the dither via mount option and set the dither to 1.5 pixels. The mount moves as expected. I set a 70 second delay between each sub and it returns to a normal trace by the time it guides again.

When you say PHD trace, you mean the guide graph in Maxim? You don't use PHD at all.

[Martin-Devon]

Aha - perhaps this is what I did wrong Sara.

Yes I used PHD for guiding, but for dithering to work is it therefore crucial that the actual guiding must go via Maxim instead even though I ask it to dither via the mount and not the guider? In terms of the delay, I don't see a delay feature for the dither, only for the actual download of the subs, is this the one you refer to?

Thanks,

Martin

[swag72]

Yes, you need to guide through Maxim in order to dither and capture through it as well. On the main sequence menu, there's a delay option between subs, this is the one that I have set to 70 seconds.

[Martin-Devon]

OK, now I know what to do. I've never tried guiding yet in Maxim, so that will also be a new experience - if I get stuck on that I may well ask for a tad more help.

[swag72]

No probs Martin. I can always do some screen grabs of settings if you need it.

[swag72]

Duff info Martin - In Maxim I use the dither via guider option, just checked.

[Martin-Devon]

Thanks agaiin Sara, I may also soon take you up on those Maxim autoguider screen shots.

Martin

[andrewluck]

See also this: http://skymonsters.net/software.php (MaxPHD)

and this: http://www.felopaul.com/software.htm (PHDmax)

I've not tried either but it looks like they enable you to dither whilst using PHD.

Andrew

[Martin-Devon]

Thanks Andrew, I'll look into these as well.

Martin

[fwm891]

Martin - I've just started using Maxim but use the dither via guider option at 1.5 or 2.0 pixels - works great. Use 30 secs between exposures may push this to 40 secs as a couple of times its just been settling as the next exposure begins