Astroart

[centroid]

As part of my return to Astro Imaging after a break of almost 8 years out of the hobby, apart installing a Pier, and buying equipment, I have been looking at current software.

Back in the day I was using Astroart 5, which I still have. I also used a very early version of Maxim DL, which I never bothered to keep, when I left the hobby, and sold all of the equipment.

The only weak point that I found with AA5, was its guiding ability, whereas Maxim was excellent.

Just my personal preference of course, but I much prefer to use a single software package to  capture, guide, and process.

I have Sharpcap Pro on a first year free licence, and PHD2, but am still leaning towards all-in-one Astroart. Maxim DL is not even in the equation this time, as IMO, its price tag is way OTT.

Since  left the hobby, I see that Astroart has gone through 3 new iterations., 6, 7, and now 8.

Has anyone used 7 (8 was only released very recently), and if so what are your thoughts. If you had used 5, has seven significantly moved on?

Of course, if I were to upgrade now, it would be to 8,  which would hopefully have moved up a level from 7.

Looking  back at an old post here, by Olly Penrice, where he reviewed 5, has there been a review for version 7 here on SGL?

[Merlin66]

Dave,

I started, I think, with Astroart V3 and now use V8.

It does everything I need, acquisition (with all my cameras), preprocessing, stacking etc. etc. As well as a very good guiding routine especially for the spectrograph users like me.

Have a look the Astroart website for full details on the latest version.

http://www.msb-astroart.com/

Punches well above its weight. Highly recommended.

 

[centroid]

16 hours ago, Merlin66 said:

Dave,

I started, I think, with Astroart V3 and now use V8.

It does everything I need, acquisition (with all my cameras), preprocessing, stacking etc. etc. As well as a very good guiding routine especially for the spectrograph users like me.

Have a look the Astroart website for full details on the latest version.

http://www.msb-astroart.com/

Punches well above its weight. Highly recommended.

 

Thank you, that is encouraging.

I did attempt to download the Demo version, but Windows Defender didn't like it, and advised against the download.

I e-mailed Fabio (MSB) to advise him, and he said it is because it is a very new app, and that is just Windows being cautious.

Would you say that V8 has a lot more to offer than the V5 that I currently, or in other words, is it worth the upgrade?

[DaveS]

I started out with V5 but moved to Maxim DL for my capture when I bought my first ASA mount (The software needs Maxim), but kept on using it for processing. I updated to V7 when it came out, and now have V8. V7 is an easy step up from V5 just with some new tools, but V8 is more different to V7 in the stacking, and especially in the DDP routine which now has more controls. The Trichromy is also very different, but with more options. For me it is definitely worth the update.

[Merlin66]

Dave,

I think so. The animation feature is very useful. It also seems much faster.

Restart your journey  with Astroart V5 and see how you go. Look at the V8 demo then decide.

[centroid]

16 hours ago, DaveS said:

I started out with V5 but moved to Maxim DL for my capture when I bought my first ASA mount (The software needs Maxim), but kept on using it for processing. I updated to V7 when it came out, and now have V8. V7 is an easy step up from V5 just with some new tools, but V8 is more different to V7 in the stacking, and especially in the DDP routine which now has more controls. The Trichromy is also very different, but with more options. For me it is definitely worth the update.

Thanks Dave, I think I will "bite the bullet", and upgrade to V8 👍

Edited September 30, 2021 by centroid
typo

[centroid]

14 hours ago, Merlin66 said:

Dave,

I think so. The animation feature is very useful. It also seems much faster.

Restart your journey  with Astroart V5 and see how you go. Look at the V8 demo then decide.

As I just said to DaveS, I will just go ahead and upgrade to V8, it is a 'leap' of three iterations.

[skybadger]

I read the docs re synchronising two sessions of as, does this mean it can effectively control 2 main cameras and one guide ? I've always wanted the ability to run more than 2 cameras together from one piece of software.

[centroid]

I now have V8, which I purchased as an upgrade to V5.

just need the opportunity (aka clear sky) to evaluate it.

[ollypenrice]

I prefer 5!  Well, I prefer the RGB 'Trichromy' process in 5, which became vastly more complicated in 6. I still have 5 on one machine and do Trichromy on that because I can't be bothered to learn the new version in 6. (If there was anything at all wrong with the version in 5, I might be interested in learning the later process but there isn't. It worked perfectly for me just as it was and I'm irritated by the change.)

On the other hand I've just returned to OSC imaging and the debayering in 6 is far better than I remember it.

Guiding: I used to guide in AA but switched to PHD. To be quite honest I'd just go for PHD2 for guiding. It's outstandingly good, and very easy. It also has a vast user base for feedback on peculiar problems.

The AA star feature remains fast, easy calibration. This morning I offered it 129 subs, each of 50 meg (!) and asked it to debayer then sigma-stack them. Quite honestly, I was expecting this to fall over but no, it took ten to fifteen minutes.

Olly

[centroid]

I started out with V3 , then upgraded to V4, and then lastly V5. I then left the hobby, now returning after an 8 year break.

Back in the day, I was never overly impressed with AA guiding,  but used an early version of Maxim. Not considering Maxim this time, as imo its way ovepriced, and  I'll be doing things on a much smaller scale this time around.

Unlike last time around, I'm not going LRGB, but OSC as its much less time consuming , and I can get three times as many subs, in a given imaging session, especially with the limited number of clear nights in the UK.

I'll give AA8's guiding ability a try, and see how it compares with AA5  as I remember it. I have PHD2 as a 'fall back'.