def setDefaults(configObj={}):
    """ Return a dictionary of the default parameters
        which also been updated with the user overrides.
    """
    gain     = 7               # Detector gain, e-/ADU
    grow     = 1               # Radius around CR pixel to mask [default=1 for 3x3 for non-NICMOS]
    ctegrow  = 0               # Length of CTE correction to be applied
    rn       = 5               # Read noise in electrons
    snr      = "4.0 3.0"       # Signal-to-noise ratio
    scale    = "0.5 0.4"       # scaling factor applied to the derivative
    backg    = 0              # Background value
    expkey   = "exptime"        # exposure time keyword

    paramDict={"gain":gain,
                "grow": grow,
                "ctegrow":ctegrow,
                "rn":rn,
                "snr":snr,
                "scale":scale,
                "backg":backg,
                "expkey":expkey}

    if (len(configObj) != 0):
        for key in configObj:
            paramDict[key]=configObj[key]


    return paramDict