To be honest, I am quite happy with photoshop, except for one or two tools that pixinsight has, like dbe. I calibrate, stack, align, etc in maxim, then finish in PS.
I should really try to use maxim more as that cost me enough and photoshop CS3 as well, not to mention noise ninja, gradient exterminator, etc, etc.
If I decide not to go with pixinsight, are there any other background tools that will plug into PS that you know of?
