Is it just me?

[ramstar]

It's less than 12 months since I got involved in this hobby and i must admit I've learnt a lot more in that time than I had expected - mostly thanks to you guys and the excellect advice, tips & recommendations given. However, I still have this streak in me which occasionally wins out over common sense where I go headstrong into doing (or buying) something which in next to no time I start thinking "why the hell didn't I.............". 

Anyway, no regrets on where I started - the Skywatcher 200 Dob which has given me the opportunity to see stuff I had never thought I would (once I realised my naievety in expecting Hubble-type images - what a dope!).

I've since convinced myself that I want to start taking some pictures - I know it's still early days in my learning curve but as I've indicated, patience was never one of my virtues! Having realised the wisdom advocated on here of buying second-hand so that if I wasn't suited to astro-imaging I could get most of my investment back, I've managed to acquire a couple of the bulky items which I thought might stand me in good stead for the immediate future. I got the point that the 3 most important bits of kit for imaging is 1) mount,  2) mount and  3) mount so I've got myself a second-hand NEQ6 which appears in great nick. Then I found an Evostar 100ED DS Pro and now think maybe the 80ED version may have been a better option but my main interest is likely to be the Moon, planets and star clusters so hopefully I should be OK? More recently I've got a Philips SPC900 Webcam (modified) seeing as I don't currently have a digital camera, so where's the problem?

In one word - fear! All these items are still in the garage and although I've made a start on setting up the mount (using the Astronomy Shed video which is a great source of help by the way) I have the same feelings of uncertainty I had when carrying out my first collimation. I see guys on here who rip the wrapping off new gear and away they go. 

I know that to get a real understanding of how the mount, Goto & telescope work together the best way is just to get stuck in so why do I hesitate, back off and return to my simple Dob. Is it just me?   

[Alien 13]

Hi Ramstar and its not just you i had visions of fumbling around in the dark with my stuff the 1st time thinking how on earth am i gonna get good alignment etc so kept putting it off. The reality was i could do most of the setup indoors i also made myself a polar scope illuminator and was ready to go. The 1st attempt took 10mins but I can now carry the scope and mount outside and be polar aligned in 2 mins again by preping everything indoors.

[jonathan]

Woah.  I have never managed to polar align my NEQ6.  What am I doing wrong??  I (tried) following idiot-proof guides, maybe I'm just destined never to be an imager.  Would polar alignment be easier on my CG-4?  I'd need to buy a polar scope for it though.