MaximDL v5

[jase]

Just a FYI for MaximDL users. Version 5 has just been released and includes some excellent new features. More info available here - http://www.cyanogen.com/maxim_main.php

Enjoy!

[Ric]

Just been having a read Jase, they have certainly done a lot of work on Version 5. It looks fantastic.

Cheers

[Phil]

Already got it Jase looks good.
Phil

[robgreaves]

I'm only grabbing data and autoguiding with it. All my post-processing on raw .fits files is done in other software like CCDStack.

So I don't think it's worth me upgrading for a good while yet... also a shame you have to go up 3 levels in cost for the 'Pro' version just to be able to control a cooled CCD camera :eyepop:

Might download the 30 day demo for a play though, see what I'm missing :P

Regards,
Rob

[jase]

You're not missing out on much Rob. There are some new features such as stacking frames where you can specify the criteria for rejection such as a too high FWHM. There's more, but its still the gold standard package MaximDL users are use too - which is a good thing. The main thing I like about MaximDL is the plugins. This significantly improves the product functionality beyond anything I've seen to date. There are plugins available for multi-guide where you can select more than one guide star to counteract seeing through to freaky image processing methods for correcting egg shape stars will performing a Gaussian blur simultaneously. Here's a sampler - http://winfij.homeip.net/maximdl/index.html
Couple MaximDL with observatory control software such as ACP that will do your plate solving, automatic skyflats, focusing, dome control through to fully automated imaging runs...the two packages are very hard to beat. I would go as far as saying they are unbeatable even when comparing CCDSoft coupled with CCDAutopilot. This of course has been my sole experience.