Thanks guys, the original was a shocker!!
Frank, I do not use ICNR anymore, it sucks up too much of my time. I have a little bit of a library of darks starting to build up and I take a few here and there as I go through the night. I know about what temperature it was when I imaged "X" object so if I only take 2 darks, I've got some in this folder over....here!
Although I have a reflector with good diffraction spikes from the spider, I have ordered a mask from ozstockman to better assist focusing. I generally don't move the camera from the scope, so most focus changes are small. Generally, I use the EOS Utility and open the remote shooting window and then hit the zoom function. I focus the brightest star I can find till I feel that it is as small and tight as I can get it, then take a few 20sec exposures to check the diffraction spikes. If they aren't too good, I note which direction I moved the focuser(I have a motorized focuser running into my warm room via a cable to the hand box-must get a Focus USB from Shoestring) and take test shots until I'm happy with the focus setting. I generally don't lock the focuser after as I have it pretty tight to hold the weight and the motor stops it from turning(Craford style).
When I'm finished with the EOS software, I close it all and open Maxim and connect to the 40d, after checking my settings. On the sequence tab, I set up the destination folder, name of object, and naming rules to prevent file conflicts, light or dark fames or combo's thereof, exposure time in seconds, binning and number of exposures I want to do. Triple check everything turn the lights out and hit start. After I've done the EOS thing and while I'm setting up MaxIm, I'm slewing and centring the scope and cameras and then starting to guide with PHD. I also take a few short test shots of my subject for framing.
Cheers,
Gray.
