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phd2 automatically scales the display to the brightest star, so some of the dim looking stars would probably have been quite suitable for guiding - put a box over one and see what SNR you get - more than about 4 is usually OK on mine.
Darks are a very good idea and easy to implement. median noise reduction is also worthwhile.
from the manual:
"The next control to the right is a slider for adjusting screen stretch and contrast, essentially a "gamma"a djustment. PHD2 automatically adjusts the display accounting for the darkest and brightest pixels in the image, and the slider is used to fine-tune the display to better see the stars in the field of view. This may be useful, for example, if you are trying to focus the guide camera for the first time and need to see the large, out-of-focus star image. Moving the gamma slider only makes the display brighter or dimmer
for your viewing. PHD2 always uses the raw pixels from the camera for guiding, and moving the gamma slider has no effect on guiding. A display of "completely white" or "completely black" is usually an indication that no stars are available in the field of view. "
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