Possible working with Maxim?

Sequence Generator Equipment Compatibility
1

I have used Maxim DL for several years but I am pondering moving to different software. Currently SG seems to work with a very limited variety of software, such as AstroArt. Any chance of expanding this range - eg to Maxim? I have such a problem with Maxim’s guiding (it loves hot pixels regardless of what I do), but if SG woirked with Maxim the problem could be solved - using SG for guiding!
Lawrence Harris

2

I suppose you might also just use PHD2 for guiding and use SGPro for your main capture program :wink:

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3

Lawrence,
I think you’re referring to things as they were 3 years ago. Sgp is a stand alone application these days and does not interface with AstroArt or Nebulosity anymore.

So sgp would replace maxim and you could use phd2 for guiding.

Thanks
Jared

4

Wow! I had not realised that! The notes for SGP said (unless I was dreaming :wink: ) that it worked with AA and Neb only. Hence my query. I may be able to test this shortly :slight_smile:

Lawrence

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What notes are you referring to, do you have a link? I’d like to fix or address them.

That was the case 3 years ago. But a LOT has changed since then.

Thanks
Jared

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http://mainsequencesoftware.com/Products/SGPro

Bottom line reference to PHD etc. Perhaps I completely mis-interpreted
this.

Lawrence

7

Possibly. To be clear… SGPro is a standalone image capture application. No other software is required to capture images. That said. SGPro does not have its own auto guider and requires use of an external one. We support PHD2 (not PHD1), Astroart guider (not the main capture program) and Metaguide. We do not support the MaximDL guider (but it sounds like this is OK for you).

The 2.4 beta is pretty stable at this point and I highly recommend you try that.

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Hi Lawrence,

I switched to sgp about a year ago. I have to say it is the best bit of software I’ve come across for any astrophotography. Definitely trial it.

And if ever anything goes wrong the support is simply fantastic - if you look around the forum a bit you’ll see for yourself.

I can’t recommend it enough !

Kit

9

I would second that. I used MaxIm since V 1.0 in the 90’s and just switched to SGP/PhD2 last spring. I will never go back. Software is less buggy, support is better, guiding quality is as good or better (with MUCH better visualization/diagnostic tools) and the new features just keep on coming. Not to mention it is much cheaper.

Using SGP instead of MaxIm is a total no-brainer.

This unpaid public service announcement has been brought to you by… ME :smile:

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As repeated by several other former Maxim users… SGP blows it out of the water. The only real reason I could see using it these days is for ACP ($$$).

Otherwise, you could probably get it installed tonight and have your first run done. It’s that easy!

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Yes, ACP is great if you are geeky and want to customize stuff and do scripting and such. It is also expensive but does have super support from Bob Denny. Of course to use ACP you pretty much are stuck with MaxIm so need to be OK with that. My general take is that ACP may be better for scientific imaging and SGP is better for esthetic imaging. Since the latter is what I do, SGP is better for me.

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12

OK! Many thanks for the several replies. I have a couple more queries but I’ll start a new thread.

Lawrence

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