FocusMax : questions

[Paul Haese]

Hi guys,

now that permanent power is installed at the obs I need to look at FocusMax.

I am running every thing through a mount hub pro. Robofocus motor installed on a TSA and that is directly connected to the mount hub pro.

I have downloaded Focusmax 3.6.

Where do I start and what do I need to look out for? I found a few tutorials on line but would like some tips and words of advice about the pitfalls. I have heard this is one of the hardest programs to get working correctly.

[RickS]

I followed Neil Fleming's tutorial (http://www.flemingastrophotography.com/focusmax.html) and things mostly worked as advertised. If you have problems, the Yahoo group "FMaxUG" is worth a try - both for asking questions and for searching through previous posts.

Cheers,
Rick.

[leinad]

Hey Paul,

Using 3.6.2 here.
Getting started make sure your stars are roughly focused, you should be able to get the first light wizard working after this.
Make sure you have the log window open so any errors can be easily spotted.
Look out for Max HFD warnings, Max exposure warnings, Flux values.
These all can be seen and changed in the Setup and Features tabs.

If successful first time with the first light wizard, you'll create one profile routine, go next 6 times, till you have enough profile routines to use for your autofocusing. From there on you have the enjoyment of using 'select', or 'focus'(auto star select) to start focusing :)

If you do hit any errors; just post them, Im sure they are easy to work out. Once you get use to the program it's a breeze to setup again.