MaxDSLR

[AstroDad]

Is anyone here using MaxDSLR to (pre)process their images? If not, give it a look. It'll help you get the absolute most out of your camera. It does a lot that might not be useful to UW photography (e.g. autoguiding), but it does a number of tricks that I've never seen anywhere else.

http://www.cyanogen.com/products/maxdslr_main.htm

Check it out.

 

[fpoole]

Hmmm... very interesting...
So I'm scanning through the above site and am wondering how/if this would for long exposures underwater. (new D200)

My goal is to put UW camera on tripod, push the remote? countdown timer and let the camera take a timed exposure in low light, no strobes. Would this software/driver produce a better quality photo "IF?" it can be done?

Also, they talk of downloading this and that, I'm a little gun shy (again, new D200) and fear scrambling the Nikon system programs that are in the camera already. The Tutorial mentioned don't disconnect before.... so just thought I'd ask.

You don't need to go into great details, I'll read the manual, but just wanted to check with someone experienced in this and diving to see if it's a doable thing. As I understand it, simply, it takes numerous time-lagged photos, smooshes them together and generates a better exposure... and does it in the camera....

Thanks for any insight... interesting program... would like to just put the camera down and press the button eh??? LOL... then wait...

thanks much.

 

[AstroDad]

You're not going to scramble the D200's brains.

I don't think MaxDSLR will help you with image acquisition. The image acquisition features of MaxDSLR are targeted to astro imagers, who's needs are much different (and more demanding) than your typical UW photographer. Where MaxDLSR might be helpful in UW imaging is the processing of that image. Debayer processing for example. Other areas it can help in is dark frame, bias and flat field processing - resulting in less noise and more accurate renditions of the subject. Digital Development Processing (DDP) is also included in MaxDSLR (http://www.noao.edu/outreach/aop/glossary/ddp.html). DDP can work wonders on a difficult image...