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APT v. what?

speach

By speach
in Getting Started With Imaging

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speach

speach

Posted
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I've been using APT with my canon 1100d for awhile now, and am very happy with it for the 1100d, but now I've moved up (?) to a ZWO cmos camera and APT doesn't seem to cut the mustard now. I've been looking at other capture software have tried firecapture and sharpcap. Firecapture seem OK for solar system pictures but I'm mainly interested in DSO stuff. Now the options seem to be between MaximDL (very expensive) Sequence Generator pro and Nebulosity. I'm happy with Pixinsight for processing so I really need only a capture program, but it would be nice to have guiding integrated in the capture program, my guide camera is also a ZWO. Too say the least I'm very confused!!
Also I'm going out of my mind reading all about different programs.

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spillage

spillage

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Why is APT not doing it for you. I went from a canon to the asi1600 and cannot fault it. I am sure that it may lack in a few areas SGP might not but you do have to remember the cost. I also like the way Ivo the developer runs. You can ask for something to be added improved and he will do his best to do it.

I not trying to sell the software or am I connected to APT but my personal view is that for me right now it does all I want.

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RolandKol

RolandKol

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I am in the comparison process now, -  SGP vs APT...

14 days of Trial for SGP left... I would say Result is something around 60/40... SGP wins

But if you do not have autofocuser, light box, remote obsy and have an empty wallet already... SGP probably looses... Not sure yet.

There are things I really like on SGP:

1) SGP Targeting back from the previous sessions ("Center On Target"), - no head ache at all, as  SGP uses coords from the last session to target back,  - plates solves and re-targets based on the precision you set up - I set up 10px accuracy and it does the job.

if someone owns camera rotator, it will even rotate the cam or will show how many degrees to rotate it manually. In this field APT is far behind... Framing masks are quite painful to use, of-course, it has AutoAim/GoTo option, but you have to manually load image from the last session, solve it and etc, plus I do not like APT file explorer, takes ages to find something... 

2) SGP Slew Here option - slews to the point on the image you choose. Nice thingy! :) 

3) SGP Auto maridian FLIP! Love IT! - this option is in development stage on APT for the last year or something, very curious to see how it will be implemented!

4) And SGP Image rating/ history is also very handy.

5) Scheduling interface is better on SGP, much easier to plant and adjust and even find old session, plus you can do adjustments while Imaging... APT locks it for some reason...

However, focusing with SGP is a pain... I always use SharpCap or APT Bahtinov Aid, SGP does not have it.

SGP live view, does not exist, - pain....

SGP price... Worth probably... but if you have APT with Automeridian flip incoming and no ZuperDuper autoToys... is it worth? not sure... not yet... don't know...

 

 

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jjosefsen

jjosefsen

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Apt should do most of what you want to be honest, and I found it quite simple to use.

SGP has a lot of nice features, but a bit expensive and I found it took a ton of setting up to work, quite complicated.

There are other options out there, including some lesser known free ones. I use NINA.

https://bitbucket.org/Isbeorn/nina

It is basically a hobby project for a couple of guys, but it is open source and free.

Auto meridian flip, autofocus, rotator support, platesolving, plans, resume plans, phd2 integration, framing and Mosaic wizard, object explorer, filter wheel support, native support for zwo, Nikon, canon, and atik I think and ofc. Ascom which I use with my hypercam.

It is not as polished as APT or SGP, but feature wise it is a lot closer to SGP than APT is, but much simpler to use than SGP in my opinion.

I'm not the developer behind this, but it is too good to not be known as an alternative. ?

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RolandKol

RolandKol

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2 hours ago, jjosefsen said:

Auto meridian flip, autofocus, rotator support, platesolving, plans, resume plans, phd2 integration, framing and Mosaic wizard, object explorer, filter wheel support, native support for zwo, Nikon, canon, and atik I think and ofc. Ascom which I use with my hypercam.

It is not as polished as APT or SGP, but feature wise it is a lot closer to SGP than APT is, but much simpler to use than SGP in my opinion.

I'm not the developer behind this, but it is too good to not be known as an alternative. ?

5

Sounds VERY VERY nice! :)
but...

It does not want to start on my Win10 (both versions 64 and 32 bit...).
Lets hope I will manage to test it at home :)

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jjosefsen

jjosefsen

Posted
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1 hour ago, RolandKol said:

Sounds VERY VERY nice! :)
but...

It does not want to start on my Win10 (both versions 64 and 32 bit...).
Lets hope I will manage to test it at home :)

There are two versions 64 bit and 32 bit, the 64bit version is the one being developed the most. Make sure you download the latest beta build, it is quite stable. You also need ascom installed for it to work.

 

System Requirements

  • 64-bit Windows 7 or later

  • (32-bit version is available, but may be unstable due to memory consumption)

  • .NET Framework 4.6.2 or later

  • ASCOM Platform 6.3 or later

  • Visual Studio C++ Redistributable 2013

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michaelmorris

michaelmorris

Posted
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I'm presently using APT to run my ATIK 460EX or my ZWO ASI 294MC with no issues. 

SGP is undoubtedly a bit more powerful.  However, if

  • you haven't got a stepper motor-driven focuser or
  • don't need/want to to do automated mosaics or
  • don't need/want to to do automated multi target or
  • don't need/want to to do multi filter imaging runs,

I would stick with APT.

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Starflyer

Starflyer

Posted
Posted

SGP has changed my imaging, it's an amazingly powerful piece of software. I've used APT and I've used Maxim, it has tighter integration of its component parts than APT and is simpler to use than Maxim. 

I don't agree that it's expensive, of course $99 is a lot of money to some people and if money is that much of a consideration then start with APT.  Having used SGP for three years now and comparing it to the cost of Maxim I'd happily pay 3x what the developers sell it for! 

Cheers

Ian

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alacant

alacant

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On 24/10/2018 at 14:31, speach said:

guiding integrated in the capture program

Hi. Ekos does that along with proper sequencing and scheduling. And auto meridian flip. It runs on Linux** and is free. 

**Don't worry. I'm not staying;)

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