Image Capture, Guiding, and Processing Software

[centroid]

Returning to imaging after a break of several years, I am interested to know people are using for, as in the title above.

I always used Maxim DL for guiding, capture, processing and stacking. It was excellent at all of these functions. However, my version (4) is very old indeed, and things will no doubt have moved on considerably now.

I also have Astroart 5, but it was never in the same league for guiding, as was Maxim.

For processing only, PixInsight was good., and I also have CS6.

I see that there is a new (to me) boy on the block, Sharp Cap, at just £12 per year for the Pro version.

[newbie alert]

Maxim is still good regardless of its age.. just shows just how advanced it was... Lots of programs are dare I say it copied from maxim

Just depends if the drivers are compatible with maxim

Edited August 17, 2021 by newbie alert
Added info

[Budgie1]

As you're basically going to be running the same mount & camera as I have, this is what I currently use (other software is available ) :

• SharpCap Pro for Polar Alignment
• Cartes Du Ceil for picking targets, although you don't really need this as the software below can do the same this with it catalogues.
• Astro Photography Tool for Plate Solving, camera cooling, camera operation, focus & calibration frames.
• PHD2 for guiding.
• DeepSkyStacker for stacking.
• PixInsight for processing.

All is connected through the ASCOM platform & EQMOD and works well together on my Windows 10 Pro laptop.

I also have the Pegasus Pocket Powerbox Advance on the HEQ5 to power everything and supply a USB3 connection back to the laptop. I've also done away with the HEQ5 handset and replaced it with an EQDIR cable which plugs into the Pocket Powerbox.

[wornish]

Kstars/Ekos for selecting targets, focussing, plate-solving, sequencing, capturing and guiding, oh and Dome control. Its free and runs on Windows, Mac or Linux systems.

Astro Pixel Processor for stacking

PIxinsight and PS for further post processing.

[tomato]

Sharpcap is great value for money IMHO, the Polar Alignment tool is brilliant and you will make good use of it if setting up each time. The developer has done a lot of work on optimising the best settings for use with CMOS cameras, and new features are always being added.

Other software you may not be familiar with is Astro Pixel Processor, which I primarily use for calibration and stacking, but it  will also do post processing.

Also check out StarTools for processing, an innovative package and a very well thought out workflow, great value for money.

And I should also mention NINA, a recent (and free) integrated image capture package, my current choice of software for this operation.

An awful lot of choice these days, enjoy the research!

[nephilim]

You can do away with all the software you used to use & just buy the ASIair Pro. Imo its a total game changer. It takes care of plate solving, PA, framing, focus & imaging run.
Once i've set up all my gear, pointed the mount roughly North, inputted an imaging plan for the night & connected the ASIair I can be up & running taking images in less than 10 minutes. I can then let it get on with it, go inside & keep an eye on how its doing on my tablet from inside the house. I'll pop outside & take my flats, then set it off taking darks & it'll then Park the scope & switch itself off. Its an amazing piece of kit & very well priced. It only works with ZWO equipment though & several Canon & Nikon camera's. The ASIair in the photo is the nice little red box in the centre of my set up.

You can program it to take images of as many targets as you want in a session (It has all the NGC, Messier etc catalogues stored & gives a list of all the objects in the sky where you are on the night & how long they'll be visible for etc). If you have for example two projects on the go (say M33 & M1) You can program it to start off with M31 for 2 or 3 hours & then when M1 starts to make an appearance it can switch itself over for 3 hours or so on the Crab. 

The one downside to it (there is only one I can think of) is that the WiFi connection is poor. The ASIair itself is a WiFi hotspot so you can obviously take it to a dark sky site if you wish & just have the tablet next to it.
The ASIair is used via an app you can have on either your phone or a tablet/ notebook, either Android or Apple, it wont run on a laptop or desktop unless you use an emulator such as Bluestacks. My main gripe with it is that for some unknown reason, ZWO decided to house the 'antenna' internally & as the casing is metal then this means the signal is very weak, its fine if your stood next to it but take your phone/ tablet  any sort of distance away from it & it'll lose connection. There is a dedicated ZWO WiFi extender https://www.firstlightoptics.com/zwo-accessories/zwo-wifi-extender-for-asiair-pro.html but really it seems a bit like they did it on purpose so you buy more ZWO gear.
Theres also 'new' version of the ASIair coming out very soon (as if by magic 🙄) which has the antenna fitted to the outside. IMO this is a bit off really, its as if they've accepted theres an issue with the WiFi but instead of offering customers a fix they've decided that we all want to spend yet more money buying the version that should have come out in the very first place. This is my only gripe & because the AAP makes life so very much easier I can let that go.

Heres an overview of it in action https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KovCJRcZkDA&t=1159s

I do all my calibration, stacking & post processing etc in PixInsight

Steve

 

Edited August 18, 2021 by nephilim

[GoldTop57]

👍 for ASIAIR Pro - though due to be superseded by the ASIAIR Plus which I understand will come with an antenna and emmc storage.

[nephilim]

15 minutes ago, GoldTop57 said:

👍 for ASIAIR Pro - though due to be superseded by the ASIAIR Plus which I understand will come with an antenna and emmc storage.

Yes, I mentioned that in my post above. Total rip off by ZWO on that one, they knew the WiFi was an issue but rather than admit it they just bring out a newer model with the problem fixed. I'm happy enough with the current one & have no intention of giving them more cash 😂 Even with the dodgy WiFi its still a total game changer & makes everything so much easier.

 

[GoldTop57]

Yes - sorry missed that in your post. They did a trade in deal going from ASIAIR to ASIAIR Pro last time. Will see what features they are offering in the Plus before deciding.

[MartinB]

As you will have seen from the above, there is a bewildering array of software available now.  The capture software tends to be geared towards full automation including precise pointing using plate solving, control of motorised focusers with auto refocusing to adjust for temperature changes, guiding, and automated meridian flips.  Since my old Pulsar observatory can't be PC controlled this level of automation doesn't work for me but outside I use Sequence Generator Pro.  The problem with this level of automation is that you have a complex set of commands.  When the software works it is wonderful and people rightly wax lyrical whereas other people, like me, have one gremlin after another.  KISS can still apply!  I upgraded from Maxim v4 to v5 but didn't notice much difference really.  I can't remember whether v4 had plate solving, I think it did.  I find plate solving very useful for ensuring accurate alignment of the target when imaging over several nights.  I have always found Maxim guiding to perform well although PHD2 is significantly more sophisticated now. 

You might be interested in having a look at NINA.  There is a Stargazine talk on this here https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/361708-ep17-youtube-an-overview-of-nina-nighttime-imaging-n-astronomy-by-stefan-berg/

Pixinsight has various stacking routines and I now use the Weighted Batch Processing routine all the way up to image integration.  This is pretty neat.  Some people have found that PI gives better results than Maxim but I have never been able to discern this from the comparisons I have made.

 

For a long time PI has been a one off payment with lifetime updates.  I don't know whether this applies to your version.  PI is very sophisticated.  The nomenclature is based on statistical terms and, unless you are an advanced statistician, is confusing and unhelpful.  There seems to be a certain conceit around using PI and being able to state "Fully processed in PI".  It is fantastic software but so is photoshop and having spent a chunk of my life getting to grips with PI (Adam Block's tutorials are excellent but very soporific) I realise that you can use either or both.  I use both and do like the deconvolution tool in PI when my data is good enough to stand it

[nephilim]

7 hours ago, GoldTop57 said:

Yes - sorry missed that in your post. They did a trade in deal going from ASIAIR to ASIAIR Pro last time. Will see what features they are offering in the Plus before deciding.

I didn't realise they did a trade in with the last one. I'll be very happy if they do the same this time around. I dont mind spending a bit more to upgrade to the newer version as a trade in but I wouldnt be happy just buying the new version outright after only having the Pro since January. Thanks for the info.

[City9Town0]

20 hours ago, Budgie1 said:

• SharpCap Pro for Polar Alignment
• Cartes Du Ceil for picking targets, although you don't really need this as the software below can do the same this with it catalogues.
• Astro Photography Tool for Plate Solving, camera cooling, camera operation, focus & calibration frames.
• PHD2 for guiding.
• DeepSkyStacker for stacking.
• PixInsight for processing.

All is connected through the ASCOM platform & EQMOD and works well together on my Windows 10 Pro laptop.

I'm with Budgie, apart from that I stack and process in PI, with a few final tweaks in PS.

 

[Merlin66]

Upgrade your Astroart to the latest V7.

The guiding routine is very good, I use it to guide the slit spectrograph.

Also the plate solving and preprocessing (darks, flats, stacking etc) works very well.

It also does a great job for final image processing.

well worth revisiting.

[autonm]

On 18/08/2021 at 08:25, tomato said:

Sharpcap is great value for money IMHO, the Polar Alignment tool is brilliant and you will make good use of it if setting up each time. The developer has done a lot of work on optimising the best settings for use with CMOS cameras, and new features are always being added.

Other software you may not be familiar with is Astro Pixel Processor, which I primarily use for calibration and stacking, but it  will also do post processing.

Also check out StarTools for processing, an innovative package and a very well thought out workflow, great value for money.

And I should also mention NINA, a recent (and free) integrated image capture package, my current choice of software for this operation.

An awful lot of choice these days, enjoy the research!

Agree on StarTools !! Deffo value for money

https://youtu.be/4r5WJeQuv78

 

[wimvb]

On 17/08/2021 at 21:20, centroid said:

Returning to imaging after a break of several years, I am interested to know people are using for, as in the title above.

I always used Maxim DL for guiding, capture, processing and stacking. It was excellent at all of these functions. However, my version (4) is very old indeed, and things will no doubt have moved on considerably now.

I also have Astroart 5, but it was never in the same league for guiding, as was Maxim.

For processing only, PixInsight was good., and I also have CS6.

I see that there is a new (to me) boy on the block, Sharp Cap, at just £12 per year for the Pro version.

You can actually use PixInsight for capture, stacking and processing. PI has a client for the INDI platform, which allows mount and camera control. Unfortunately not developed past the rudimentary functionality, and I wouldn't recommend it for gear control and capture.

[jjosefsen]

It's already been mentioned, but: Nighttime Imaging 'N' Astronomy – An astrophotography imaging suite (nighttime-imaging.eu)

It is truly a great piece of software, and it is free!

[centroid]

All duly noted, thanks guys.

[adyj1]

On 18/08/2021 at 07:32, wornish said:

Kstars/Ekos for selecting targets, focussing, plate-solving, sequencing, capturing and guiding, oh and Dome control. Its free and runs on Windows, Mac or Linux systems.

Don't forget polar alignment - I used to pay for sharpcap Pro for the PA but Ekos is free and better automated (it rotates the mount for you) 👍