Using Darks in FocusMax

[Steve Brady]

I posted the following yesterday as a response to an old thread in the FocusMax section and thought I would resend as a new message since there may be others who might be interested.
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Hello All---

I say a post today concerning the use of darks with FMx and thought I would mention that I released a new version a few months ago that uses the calibration feature in MaxIm (FMx V3.4.30). I would believe that this would be useful for hot pixel / column defects especially were FMx may to lock onto a hot pixel thinking it is a star.

a) Create a set of full frame dark & bias at the max camera binning (typically 3) which is the same as initial images in which FMx detects the target star.

b) Create a set of full frame dark & bias at the lowest binning (typically 1) used for sub-framing the target star

c) Load the images into the Set Calibration window in MaxIm

MaxIm will extract the appropriate position of the calibration frames when FMx creates a sub-frame and calibrate the image. You will find this new feature on the Features Tab. I created a subdirectory for the calibration images and load them into MaxIm Set Calibration window at the start of each run.

I will forward a copy of this version to Bob to post on his site.

Clear skies to all,

Steve Brady