Best end to end astrophotography software

[Somnium]

at the moment i am running the following list of software


PHD2 - guiding
EZ capture - camera and filter wheel operation
focus max - focus
cartes du ciel - planetarium and mount control
EQ Mod
Astro tortilla - plate solving and polar alignment
DSS - stacking
registax - planetary stacking
photoshop


that is all i could think of off the top of my head

this is working quite well and allows me to do everything that i need for the moment. the only limitations is that it will not automatically meridian flip and reacquire a target. also the automation is not ideal, if i set up a session to image through multiple filters it will not automatically focus for a new filter, also i can't automate multiple targets in one night.

i know there is a lot of software out there, Maxim DL, CCD autopilot etc, just wanted to get a feel for what others found worked really well.

[Merlin66]

Aidan,
Have a good look at AstroArtV5.
I think it may meet all your requirements.
http://www.msb-astroart.com/

[Somnium]

interesting, and not expensive. i can't see if it does plate solving and has a planetarium but it looks powerful

[Merlin66]

AA5 does plate solving and yes it also has a star map.....as well as guiding and scripts.

[Somnium]

Wow, so why do people spend many times more for the ccdware suite?

[Merlin66]

I honestly don't know!
AA5 punches well above it's weight.....
(BTW The latest PaintShopPro version also outguns PS -bang per buck!)

[rustigsmed]

i don't think I've seen an astro program that does so much (although i haven't really used that many). I am guessing it dithers and auto focuses without any dramas (much human input)?

[Somnium]

i will have a deeper look into it, maybe give it a trail.

on the PS front, i already have it and have invested WAY too much time getting to know it. i think i will stick with it :)

[jase]

I would recommend grouping based on function;
Image Capture
Image Processing
As has been mentioned, there isn't a single app that will do both extremely well.

[Somnium]

Yeah I agree, I am thinking that SG pro is the best bang for your buck when it comes to image capture. I don't think I will ever leave PS for post processing, just need a good tool for preprocessing. I use DSS at the moment but it is slow and has bugs when using the drizzle function.

[tileys]

I'll have to check out AA5.

I use PHD2 for guiding and also for polar alignment (nice to perform the alignment then get immediate graphical verification and carry on from there if it looks good) and Backyard EOS for capture and focus as well (find it works better for me than with a mask) so I've managed only a partial cull from the list you have ;)

[Atmos]

I guess if you wanted to have a SINGLE program to do it all, you cannot go past MaxIm DL. With it you can organise your scripts for image capture, do all of the calibrations and then do your image editing afterwards. It will do all of your focusing, image capture, control the filter wheel and everything else. It is a one stop shop BUT, there is always a but.
Although Maxim will do everything, other software can be easier to use. PHD can be better for guiding, although doing exactly the same thing, it's easier to use - more user friendly. It will focus just as well as Focus Max as long as you put all of the correct information in (my understanding) where as FocusMax does some in-house calibration.\

[Somnium]

SG pro seems to have the same capability but is 1/5 the price, any reason why I wouldn't go with that? What are its limitations?