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preliminary guiding software comparison
Managed to get set up last night to sort out some of my guiding woes and test out some software against each other. Only had a few hours, near full moon, light polluted Brisbane, so the testing was not extensive by any means. Just a brief look at how simple and quick to use they were.
I tested PHD, Guidemaster (GM), Metaguide (MG), and EQAlign (EQA). Guide cameras used were Phillips SPC900NC (SPC) and Meade DSI II Pro (DSI). Guide scope is a SkyWatcher Short-tube 80mm f/5 (ST80). Connection to mount was EQMOD/ASCOM.
PHD and EQA can use either guide camera, but GM and MG can only use the SPC.
The DSI is much quicker and easier to find and focus stars to guide on in general. That's the reason I bought it. Much time wasted trying to find stars with the SPC.
PHD using DSI: easy to find stars without playing with camera settings by default; click to select one to guide one; simple interface; relatively resource hungry - if want to leave it in background to use some other application while calibrating or guiding get lags and "Not Responding" messages if you I go too fast; it has worked for me in the past but have been having trouble lately, am now wondering if I have changed a setting that is causing it to not calibrate efficiently?
EQA using DSI: the default exposure settings give almost a black screen, had to play with settings (gamma/contrast etc) to get the stars showing up; pretty simple interface but wants better tooltips over buttons (some buttons/icons do, but some don't) and it's not always obvious what button to hit next; there is a kind of guide/instruction in the top right of screen, but don't feel it's quite complete or clear; star seemed to drift out of the guide crosshairs but the software still kept a circle around the guide star, so must have been tracking the star ok but not guiding the mount - need to get to the bottom of this, assumed I was guiding but may have only been calibrating (wasn't clear)
MG using SPC: with some minor camera settings, pretty easy to find a star - the software locates the brightest source automatically, crosshair does skip around a bit if the picture is noisy, but think that's part of the process and need to investigate if it's meant to and ok to do that or not; there is an "integrate" captures feature that did settle the crosshairs down a lot; had trouble connecting to the mount so couldn't complete calibration - asked in the MG Yahoo Group and believe it's because I only used the basic EQMod driver and should have used the HUB driver? Haven't used that before so need to look into it. I liked this application.
GM using SPC: had to play with camera settings to get stars clear enough, maybe it was just the conditions; clearly I need a lesson on how to use this software, it didn't seem intuitive to me despite simple first appearances; suspect the problems were cause by guide stars not being clear in a noisy image.
PHD using SPC: trouble finding right exposure and guide stars, too tired to bother considering I knew once I did I'd have calibration trouble anyway.
Bottom line - gut feel is that MG looks the most promising when balancing ease of use, location of stars, has a beginner or advanced interface so you can make it as simple or complex as you like, the developer is very active at responding to queries or problems. Very slick interface. Think I need a better webcam to be able to utilise this without frustration, and I need to get it talking to the mount, obviously, so need to look into this HUB ASCOM thingy.
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