iraf.net

my collaborators and i were recently recommended by a
paper referee to avoid using IRAF PHOT tasks (say APPHOT),
at sizes as small as r=2 pixels because the polygons used to
approximate circular apertures are not very good (his opinion).he recommended some external tasks which can be run
in IRAF like CCDCAP, for example. i was skeptical b/c
this software is from 10 years ago, written for WFPC2
data and i thought, 'surely IRAF does not have this
problem anymore...'does anyone know enough about the phot tasks within
IRAF and their ability to perform good photometry at
r=2 pixels (as an example)? i have used them my entire
(short) career and always gotten results which compared
well with theory, expectations and other empirical data.
i generally check the photometry with larger apertures,
but have never noticed differences larger than the
total errors i work within (typically 3-5%).any help appreciatedjay