FocusMax

[rogerg]

Just another little possibly helpful tip...

I have been messing around with automated astronomy, using CCD Commander. I hadn't managed to get focusing working because it uses FocusMax. I didn't know what that was.

I just downloaded FocusMax and have been playing around with that, it's amazing! I have used CCDSoft's @Focus before but only sometimes successfully so often haven't tried with it - I guess I never spent the time to really work out exactly what parameters makes @Focus work well for my setup.

FocusMax doesn't have any of that hassle, literrally said "Sit back and enjoy the show!" while it worked out all the parameters of my focuser automatically to build a focus model, then auto focused better than I've had focus for a long time. It's quite challenging to achieve correct focus on my setup - long focal length & small CCD chip.

Very happy! :thumbsup:

Oh, and now I have auto focus in my automated scripts in CCD Commander :D

So, moral of the story: If you use an electronic focuser that connects to your computer, see if FocusMax works for your setup. I didn't even know about it until tonight but have had my RoboFocus for a year+.

Get it here:
http://users.bsdwebsolutions.com/~larryweber/

P.S. It's free!

Roger.

[[1ponders]]

Thanks for the heads up Roger. It's always nice to have lots of optional toys that make our obsession more geek friendly.

Have you tried DSLR Focus and if so how do the two compare?

[rogerg]

Paul,

I do use DSLRFocus but not for auto focusing. I use DSLR Focus with my 350D on my Losmandy/Megrez setup that doesn't have a RoboFocus, and I use the RoboFocus on my LX200/ST7 setup, so that's the one I autofocus.

So I can't really compare the two sorry. DSLRFocus is certainly easy to use for manual focus, and FocusMax is easy to use for auto focus (after one night's use) but I haven't tried FocusMax for manual focusing or DSLRFocus forauto focusing :)

Roger.

[[1ponders]]

:confuse3: Maybe I need to look into what I need to automate my JMI. Any suggestions on what I need to get the laptop to talk to the focuser motor?

[rogerg]

I'm not very familiar with the JMI motor/computer setups.. but...

When I was looking for my RoboFocus I was looking at the JMI too. From what I remember back then, JMI had something called "SmartFocus" which I think was the interface between focuser and computer. It connected via serial cable to the computer. I suspect it came with software that ran it.

That was when they had just introduced the NGF-C, so a year or 2 ago now, can't remember for certain.

Roger.

[[1ponders]]

Yeah I've looked at the SmartFocus. There has to be a cheaper way though :P

[rogerg]

Ahh, that's interesting you say that... When I looked in to it I chose RoboFocus because I worked out that with computer connectivity included the RoboFocus was cheaper by a few hundred. But then a while ago I got an email from someone saying I was wrong and that it was all included....

:shrug:

Roger.

[[1ponders]]

When I bought my JMI, to get the smart focus it was about as much again as the motorized JMI on its own.

[rogerg]

Well, I suppose as you said earlier, "There has to be a cheaper way" :)

Hope you find a cheaper way! You'd think some amateur out there is making an alternative...

Roger.

[[1ponders]]

I've just contacted the maker of my Star-mate remote scope controller and it looks like I can control the JMI through that. I've got a few weeks holidays coming up soon so maybe I can spend some time trying it out with FocusMax