Yes. I've used it and the others.
It's a (?) refined implementation of the
PhotoPolar Align tool. My apologies to Themos if I have misrepresented the situation.
PhotoPolarAlign, SharpCap and Polemaster all use the same method to determine the center of rotation. You take a shot, rotate the mount, take another and then solve with simple geometry.
The PhotoPolarAlign tool uses plate solving either locally or using astrometry.net to work out where the pole is. SharpCap does the same but with it's own plate solving which is restricted to quite a narrow view.
Polemaster gets you to do the plate solving. ie. Click on Sigma Octans.
I like different aspects of each. Polemaster is self contained. Put the camera in the bracket, start the app, follow the instructions. When you're finished, put it away. That means I can use it in exactly the same way on my CGEM or a dumb mount like Super Polaris or Star Adventurer.
With SharpCap, you can align using your guidescope. If you have that setup on your scope and focused, it's just as quick to use as Polemaster. However, it expects a much narrower field (1.5 x 1 compared to 6 x 5 for Polemaster) in order to simplify the plate solving.
The narrower view means you need to be relatively closer to the pole when you start. That's easy in the North but not so much in this half of the planet. That's where PhotoPolarAlign helps because you can start with a lens on a DSLR, but at the cost of setup and solve time.
Steve.
