12 replies to this topic

[DaveB]

I'm looking to analyze/improve my imaging train, and CCDInspector seems like a good tool to help. I'm not averse to purchasing it, but I just wanted to check if there are equivalent tools that I should compare it with. Also, the GUI has a Windows XP feel to it (from the screenshots), so I'm wondering if there aren't more modern alternatives out there. 

 

I'm mostly interested in evaluating whether my CCD is orthogonal or not - it seems to be more out of focus in one corner than the others. I have SGP and PI, but neither seem to do what CCDInspector can do.

 

Thanks,

Dave

[Ken Sturrock]

PI has a script called "FWHMEccentricity" which has some of the functions of CCD Inspector. It isn't as intuitive, nor does it have all of the features, but it can give you image statistics and create "contour plots" of your image's FWHM and eccentricity (assuming you have adequate numbers of stars to measure). Since you already own the software, it's worth giving it a try.

[R Botero]

Try MaxSelector: http://www.felopaul.com
It's part of the MaxPilote image automation suite by Laurent Bourgon and it's freeware. It works very well for me. If you use it in conjunction with MaxPilote it will also assist with collimation and sensor tilt correction.
Good luck!
Roberto

[syscore]

Try MaxSelector: http://www.felopaul.com
It's part of the MaxPilote image automation suite by Laurent Bourgon and it's freeware. It works very well for me. If you use it in conjunction with MaxPilote it will also assist with collimation and sensor tilt correction.
Good luck!
Roberto

 

Wow. How was this hiding all this time?

[supernov]

Does look very 90's, but if it works, it works. I'm going to check out the PI script first, thanks for the tip!

[spokeshave]

It works - sometimes. There is very little documentation and the user interface is not at all intuitive. I get the sense that it is a bit buggy too, but acknowledge that may well be user error. Sometimes it will analyze images, and other times it won't, and for the life of me, I cannot figure out why.

 

Still, when it does analyze images, it produces essentially the same information that CCDInspector does, so it could be a very valuable tool and the price is certainly right.

 

Tim

[telfish]

It may be me but I find CCdinspector and maxpilote produces wildly different results on images taken on the same night (within the same program), even from image to image. So that tells me in my circumstance that they are unreliable. If you get different results which one do you trust as correct. Things should be repeatable otherwise you can be chasing your tail.

Edited by telfish, 01 July 2016 - 07:56 AM.

[spokeshave]

I only used CCDInspector for the 30-day trial, so I have limited experience, but I have to agree that at least on single subs, both the CCDI data and the MaxSelector data are very noisy, almost to the point of being useless. They will tend to work OK for identifying trends for things like tilt and collimation, but beyond a simple rough approximation of the errors, they don't seem to have much value. They both work much better on stacks of many images, though.

 

Tim

[Jeff2011]

I clicked on the felopaul site from my office computer and it was blocked by SOPHOS as a malicious site.  That may be erroneous or perhaps his site got hacked.  Proceed at your own risk.  I would at least do a scan of your system after visiting the site and installing the software.

[syscore]

I clicked on the felopaul site from my office computer and it was blocked by SOPHOS as a malicious site.  That may be erroneous or perhaps his site got hacked.  Proceed at your own risk.  I would at least do a scan of your system after visiting the site and installing the software.

 

Hmm, now we know why it was hidden. We should inform the author.

[DaveB]

Thanks everyone for your feedback. It is tilt and collimation that I'm looking to analyze, so it looks like I have a couple of options. 

 

And, thanks for the SOPHOS warning. I did a check on that website with the Norton Safe Web tool and it came back ok. That isn't a guarantee, but it is somewhat reassuring. (Hacking of these sites is certainly possible. A few years ago, a prominent astro-software website had a download file with a virus in it.)

 

Dave

[maxmir]

Do you own PixInsight ?

It has number of scripts that do the same things as inspector.

Edited by maxmir, 01 July 2016 - 08:38 AM.

[DaveB]

Do you own PixInsight ?

It has number of scripts that do the same things as inspector.

 

Yes - I'll give the FWHMEccentricity script a go as my first test. Are their other PI scripts that help diagnose or test tilt and/or collimation issues?