Quote:
Originally Posted by multiweb
...What you are saying about calibrating once. There are other variables such as mount mechanics, squareness of the shafts and gears, etc... Does maxim gets this info from the mount as well, like what Gemini does when you build a model?
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Apologies Marc, I only glanced at this comment and failed to respond in my original post.
No, MaximDL will not take into consideration the variables you note such as mount mechanics etc., when guiding. Perhaps I should flip the table and challenge you to name guiding software that does.
Despite what many believe, recalibration doesn't do this either. For example, there maybe a spot on the worm gear that causes the mount to run faster than true RA. As calibration doesn't process a full worm rotation to detect this, it doesn't know about it. It is only picked up in regular guiding corrections.
Point being is that guiding should be seen as a last resort, not a band-aid to poor set up issues. Start with the basics, get your rig balanced, train periodic error correction, precisely polar align etc. Ultimately the goal is to get the set up tracking as good as possible. When this has been achieved you'll get the most out of guiding.
I may have painted a picture that MaximDL does it all and then some. I will admit its guiding capabilities are very strong, probably the best on the market however all software has its pros/cons. Regardless of the software used, guiding is reactive tool. As highlighted, there are many things that can be done to an imaging rig to improve performance or should I say make it proactive. As the saying goes, prevention is better than a cure...and that cure is guiding.