MaximDL

[bazaud]

Do I take the plunge and spend $500 and buy MaximDL?

Is it worth the money?

Is it better than the freebies?

How do I tell my wife???:D

Love to hear your comments.
Thanks

Barry

[Moon]

If you're using a mono CCD camera, then the answer is yes. For a DSLR you can probably stick with deepskystacker.
As for the wife, it's easier to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission, right?
James

[bazaud]

Thanks James,

Good advice.

Barry

[RickS]

I'm not a big fan of Maxim for processing but it's my preferred tool for image capture. It takes a bit of effort to figure it out but it is very powerful and configurable.

Cheers,
Rick.

[Tandum]

That new version 5.22 is still a bit buggy I think. Seems to lock up on me around the guiding chart. I dropped back to 5.18 till I have time to look closer at it. Could be the real problem is this rebuilt PC I'm now using.

[bazaud]

Thanks Robin and Rick,

I need a good capture program, been playing around with Nebulousity trial. Trying to decide should I, bite the bullet and put the $80 into buying MaximDL instead?

Barry

[peter_4059]

Give sequence generator pro a try. $100 and has very good functionality. The guys developing it are adding new features weekly and it has come a long way since they started.

[bazaud]

Thanks Peter..I'll have a look at it.

Still waiting for someone to praise Maxim so much I'll have to buy it.

Barry

[Bassnut]

It's not cost of DL, it's how you value yr time. DL does everything, so sure, try the freebies, with all the painfull learning curves and limitations, and end up geting DL anyway after a year of endless stuffing around "saving money", and then yet another learning curve. Short cut all that and just get DL now. It's a tool to get pics. What's more important, stuffing around with cheap tools, or pics ?

[peter_4059]

Pretty hard to dismiss an option when you haven't tried it in my opinion.

[Bassnut]

Actually, it's very easy. How many options do you bother with to bang a nail in to a piece of wood?. There are many ways to try for free or you buy a hammer.
DL is a standard hammer.

[peter_4059]

Yep Fred you are right.

Everyone should buy a PME, and RCOS, an ST10XME and have an obs too.

As you say - what's more important, stuffing around with cheap tools or pics?

[allan gould]

Fred,
To be honest I've tried your hammer in the form of Maxim and although all the tools were there in the bag I really found it to be a pain in the butt. I went for simpler programs that just do what it says with the minimum of fuss and then eventually I came across the program that Peter_4059 mentioned.
What a breath of fresh air with a clean interface, logically set out without the Maxim attitude.
So unlike some I've tried both and I prefer a clean simple pallette rather than a greasy high calorie meal. Sequence generator enables me to get on target, plate solve then do all my lights and calibration frames with any of my cameras or scopes or mounts and does it all beautifully rather than spending all night Wondering why my guider won't work with Maxim.
Just my 2 cents

Allan

[Bassnut]

Haha, good one , point taken :thumbsup:. Yes, there is satisfaction in doing more with less, the craft is often as important as the pics I'll give you l that. Let's say whatever you decide on, learn the tool well, don't chop and change .

[peter_4059]

Hopefully one day I'll be allowed to build an obs. I'm sick of packing it all up when the clouds roll in only to find it is all clear 30 minutes later :(

[Bassnut]

Ok, go with the easy to use plastic hammer then, but you'll have to bang a lot harder when the nails get bigger.

[peter_4059]

Check this out...

http://www.bunnings.com.au/learn-how-to-DIY_diy-videos.aspx?videoId=42

[allan gould]

It's just me Fred as I like to play in my own sandpit with easy to use programs to get my images which is what I'm doing now. Just pulled up my planetarium, went to my object, plate solved and synced then centered on my reference image from a prior run to within 5 -10 pixels and all my lights, flats darks and bias frames are all preset from the last time I imaged and will be finished and in the right directories ready for pixinsight to munch on without any assistance from me. And the scope safely parked and tucked away for the night.
A simple sand box with a little plastic hammer - just my cup of tea with little noise! Just glad you like maxim, Fred.
Allan

[allan gould]

Or this one which is a real gem!
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2308779

[troypiggo]

Or something like this:
http://mindhacks.com/2007/12/17/man-hammers-nail-into-head-every-week-for-11-weeks/

[bazaud]

Thanks Guys,

Looks like I need to try them all and a few hammers too.

Barry

Not trying the nails in the head thing. :rofl:

[RickS]

Barry,

It does come down to personal preference to a large extent and possibly first impressions too. I installed Maxim to try it and it took me very little effort to get up and running. If I'd struggled with it then I might have developed a different impression.

If you're the sort of person that doesn't like to tweak things it probably won't suit you. If you do like having control over all the knobs and levers then you're more likely to enjoy using it.

What you expect to do in future also has some relevance. If you want to use third party automation software or write your own scripts one day then Maxim is probably the only choice.

Cheers,
Rick.

[troypiggo]

G'day. I'm in the same boat as Rick, in that I use MaxIm for image capture only, and use PixInsight for all of my processing. When I bought MaxIm, that was before I had PI, and I was using MaxIm for calibration and some processing. Found that PI beats it for all aspects of processing, from calibration and stacking to the final stages.

I'm sticking with MaxIm for image capture, for now, because I have invested the money in it. However, I have played with Sequence Generator Pro, and if I had my time again, I would have bought both SGP and PI, for less money than MaxIm alone by the way, and would be able to do everything MaxIm does and much more.

MaxIm does have a lot of 3rd party automation software available. However, SGP has it built-in. There isn't much else you'd need for image capture. For around $100, it's the best bang-for-buck image capture and automation software around. Download a free trial and see for yourself.

[Octane]

MaximDL has an excellent help menu with tutorials.

H

[Bassnut]

I downloaded it, and it does look impressive. But "does more than DL" is a bit of a stretch. I don't see SBIG internal guide or AO, integration with focus max, auto dark library selection, direct support for PME /X, guide cam control other than an interface to 3 external (and fairly limited) guide applications and a few other things.

If you have the gear that just suits SGP and don't want to muck around to much and just take pics, it's a cracker I must say, but you wouldn't want bang large nails with it :thumbsup:

[peter_4059]

The guys developing Sequence Generator Pro have chosen to integrate it with phd guiding. When it started they were using Nebulosity as the imaging interface however it now has it's own in-built imaging interface so it wouldn't surprise me to see it get it's own guiding functionality at some stage.

It doesn't interface with focusmax but has its own autofocus routine that does a pretty good job from what I've seen. It has platesolving with either Elbrus (free) or Pinpoint.

I agree with you if you need specific things like AO support then Maxim is going to be the way to go at this stage. AO is getting more affordable these days and will probably become more common as part of the average users kit so who knows in a years time - SGP is gaining functionality at an amazing rate.

Peter

[stevous67]

Blah blah blah... No one asked what equipment he has? Or did I miss that?

Just pick something... "... my BBQ has 6 burners", "well mine has 7...".

Oh boy.