maxim dl 5

dpastern (Dave Pastern) · #1 27-10-2009, 11:28 PM

Well, the box finally arrived :-) I've had the software installed for about a week (download), but haven't had a full chance to play with it yet due to my cold, etc. I've found a couple of tutorials as well online, so pretty happy. Oh, and the user guide in the boxed set is MASSIVE, although I'd hoped for a bound book, rather than a spiral book, which will probably have pages go missing over time

If anyone wants to donate some fits data files for me to play with, that'd be really nice ;-)

Dave

Tandum (Robin) · #2 27-10-2009, 11:39 PM

http://starshed.net/m27.zip

LRGB data set with cal files.
Says another 40minutes to upload.
That's 83meg, a QHY8 data set comes to around 600meg

dpastern (Dave Pastern) · #3 28-10-2009, 12:08 AM

Thanks Robin - I will start to download it around 11.30 to make sure it's all uploaded

Dave

Tandum (Robin) · #4 28-10-2009, 12:22 AM

You won't get anything till it's there and it just timed out and restarted. It now says 28minutes.

One of my images appeared on a website and my site appears to be taking a flogging trying to dish it up

dpastern (Dave Pastern) · #5 28-10-2009, 12:32 AM

well, I'll be up for another 45 mins to an hour, I'll see what happens, otherwise I'll grab it when it's available

Dave

Tandum (Robin) · #6 28-10-2009, 12:53 AM

Done. Pop me a PM when you have it please.

jase (Jason) · #7 28-10-2009, 12:59 AM

Let the frustra...errrmmm I mean learning curve begin, Dave. Nothing like jumping off the deep end. MaximDL is like a Swiss army knife, handy tool to know how to operate, just don't get your fingers in the way. Stick at it and learn what it does to your data. Enjoy!

http://www.mistisoftware.com/astronomy/index_fits.htm

Tandum (Robin) · #8 28-10-2009, 01:25 AM

I think all those files are fully calibrated in the first place jase.

dpastern (Dave Pastern) · #9 28-10-2009, 01:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tandum

Done. Pop me a PM when you have it please.

Just started downloading it now, should be done in under 10 mins. Good connection, averaging just under 300kb/sec. Will PM you when it's done (off to finish this episode of Nightwalker anime)

Quote:

Originally Posted by jase

Let the frustra...errrmmm I mean learning curve begin, Dave. Nothing like jumping off the deep end. MaximDL is like a Swiss army knife, handy tool to know how to operate, just don't get your fingers in the way. Stick at it and learn what it does to your data. Enjoy!

http://www.mistisoftware.com/astronomy/index_fits.htm

hehehe Jase. Now I'm scared! Oh well, I bought it, now I gotta use it. From what I can see, there are no books on how to use maxim dl, that's a bit of a surprise and a pity. Photoshop is a complex beast and I was as scared as (of using/learning it), but I'm reasonably adept at it now. If I can learn Photoshop, I'm sure I can learn maxim, although it might take a few years ;-)

How do their free downloads work? Is that for minor updates only, or major ones as well, such as maxim dl 6?

Dave

edit: OMG, I forgot about Jim Misti's website! I actually have one of my repros up there from a year or so ago (M31) repro.

jase (Jason) · #10 28-10-2009, 11:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tandum

I think all those files are fully calibrated in the first place jase.

Indeed Robin, but if all you're using MaximDL for is calibrating the data, its not worth purchasing. So many other cool and neat features available that can be tested on a variety of data sets.

Dave,
If you've mastered Photoshop, MaximDL is relatively easy in comparison. That said after completing intermediate and advanced Photoshop courses, I still don't have a strong handle on all of its possibilities. I'm discovering CS4 seems to have quite a few hidden gems.

dpastern (Dave Pastern) · #11 28-10-2009, 03:07 PM

I'd say I'm intermediate at Photoshop. I used to dread and hate photoshop before I bought it, but now I really love using it. I find it really fun, weird aren't I? I'm using CS2, can't justify upgrading to CS4. Well, not yet lol.

Dave

marki · #12 28-10-2009, 08:42 PM

Dave I use it for capture and the grunt work (calibrating etc). Have used it to process but prefer CS4. Just got CCDstack to try out as well

. There's lots of stuff to find and play around with in maxim though.

Mark

dpastern (Dave Pastern) · #13 28-10-2009, 10:26 PM

I've decided that I'll get ccdsoft, as well as sky 6, starry night pro 6, ccdinspector and astroart. You can never have too much software lol (spoken like a true geek hahaha).

Dave

AlexN · #14 28-10-2009, 10:51 PM

I love Maxim.. Its got a great slew of very powerful pre-processing tools.. Things like DDP, deconvolution etc.. I use maxim for capture, I still use DSS for stacking and calibration, however I then take the unprocessed tiff's back into maxim for DDP, and a few other bits and pieces.. I create a few different tiff's from the original, one with a mild deconvolution just to tighten up stars, one with rather heavy deconvolution to sharpen up details.. then I'll move these files into Photoshop CS4 and use layer masks to tighten up the stars without bringing in noise or those dark halo's, then another mask to layer in the sharpened heavily deconvoluted details etc.. I find myself going back and forth between programs from capture to final processed image..

Dave, What guide camera are you using? I hope its MaximDL compatible.. Since I started using Maxim for guiding as well as imaging, the load on my laptop has gone down significantly compared to using PHD for guiding and Maxim for imaging...

Have fun with Maxim mate... Its rather involved, but once you get used to it, its really quite fantastic.

dpastern (Dave Pastern) · #15 29-10-2009, 12:22 AM

I have an Orion auto guider unit. I believe it's compatible with maxim dl. I haven't gotten that far yet, problems with mounting guide scope (will probably post about on Sunday coming, time to watch anime now and then sleep, work tomorrow and away for Thursday night, Friday and Saturday).

Dave

marki · #16 29-10-2009, 09:15 PM

The orion works fine in MaximDL Dave, no worries at all. Alex I tend to do the same but also flick over to ALP4Win as well. Funny how no one program will do it all

. I run everything, focuser, scope, camera, filterwheel, guide camera through Maxim and have been using it in conjunction with CCD inspector, Pem pro, focus max etc for yonks. Still have to build an observatory before I bother with maxpoint (have a copy of that as well

). Dave you will need starry night to bind with Maxim which adds more fun to try getting it all going but there is also a small planetarium program withing Maxim 5 as well if you want to keep it simple.

Mark

Geoff45 (Geoff) · #17 30-10-2009, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlexN

Dave, What guide camera are you using? I hope its MaximDL compatible.. Since I started using Maxim for guiding as well as imaging, the load on my laptop has gone down significantly compared to using PHD for guiding and Maxim for imaging...

Interesting comment about the laptop. What was the effect when you used PHD and Maxim, as opposed to just Maxim? I've been having a bit of trouble getting good guiding using Maxim for camera control and PHD for guiding, so next free clear night I intend to give the Maxim solo a try.
Geoff

AlexN · #18 30-10-2009, 10:59 AM

When guiding, maxim only downloads a 20x20px section of the guide cameras image.. this lessens the load on the USB bus and also on the CPU.. Guiding in Maxim is a lot more intuitive too.. Don't get me wrong, PHD is great, its easy and it just works (most of the time) however Maxim gives you far more control.. you can really fine tune your guiding...

dpastern (Dave Pastern) · #19 31-10-2009, 06:40 PM

Oooh I didn't know Maxim did guiding. Bonus! Of course, I'll end up playing with both PHD and maxim. Nope, I haven't had a chance to do any attempts at imaging yet, have only just gotten back home earlier this afternoon. My guidescope won't attach to the main OTA/tube ring and I'll need to contact Bintel for some suggestions/help/assistance on it all. Once that's sorted out, and my health stays OK (yes, I'm still struggling to get over this cold, over 2 weeks old now), I'll be good to go.

Dave

Bassnut (Fred) · #20 31-10-2009, 07:20 PM

Yes, Maxim sure does guiding. Alex is dead right, plus, carefully watching the guide error graph, understanding exactly what its telling you and tweaking every parameter in response to carefull analisys of the graph curves can give huge improvements in end image quality, particularly on lower quality mounts. At IISAC, I saw many ppl using default parameters, or guide software without many available adjustments and struggling generally with simply a lack of understanding of the optimum adjustments, or unable to adjust. IMO you pay for what you get, Maxim gives and it costs. Expensive gear and freebee software is often false economy and just leads to substandard results and fustration.