Lost imaging time

[Euan]

My girlfriend noticed that I spend a lot of time "messing about" and not "getting enough photos", and it made me think why? The reason really is that I usually either mess things up or spend most of my time trying new things

So be honest people, what makes you lose the most usable imaging time and why?

[Whippy]

I voted for all three. Last night it took me 6 hours to get 3 hours' data. My guiding was playing up (equipment failure, yes really!), spending ages trying to get the framing right and a meridian flip (incompetence) and using RGB filters on my ED80 for the first time and not binning (new kit and techniques).

Tony..

[jgs001]

I think for me it has to be incompetence... I think I can be blamed even when the gremlins strike, as 9 times out of 10, they've struck because I forgot to do something, or did something wrong, knocked a cable and lost power for a moment... etc etc...

[Psychobilly]

Work.... and the need for some sleep... in addtion to all of the above...

Peter...

[Space Bat]

I plan and do things to a routine - I guess my feminine side

So get alot done whilst my scope is cooling...

I don't need a good image to align the mount, or check things are working OK...do test shots...etc

Chris

[James]

Most of my time is lost to getting the kids to bed or having to get up early to get kids to nursery & school which really makes an all-nighter pretty uncomfortable.

As regards equipment I tend to obsessively stock up on replacements - extra cables/hubs etc so unless the H9 itself fails I should still be able to image...

Luckily in my line of work there's a certain amount of understanding of the need to be up all night imaging/observing...

James

[Paxo]

I've gone for all three as well but the majority of time it tends to be equipment failure. Why is it when everything is untouched before a session, when you turn the machine on it decides to re-assign new COM ports to the serial/USB adaptors after 3 or 4 months of them being the same.

Steve

[gary1968]

I went for the 1 and 2, equipment failure for me is a thing of the past since I bought my HEQ5, for now anyway, It may well reoccur.

I am still learning the basics and am forever faffing about with kit trying to make my life easier and images better. I should learn to stick with 1 set up and go wih that for a while.

Gary

[simon84]

For me its faffing, with two little ones I never really seem to get properly organised before attempting to do anything. So I end up faffing about doing alot of nothing.

[Ant]

For me it's incompetence and Equipment failure - I really do not like using new bits of equipment, I HATE trying to get new stuff to work...

Ant

[tooth_dr]

Some nights it all works faultlessly, then there are 'those' nights!

It's never just a matter of going out and turning it on for me. Even though it's the same things in the same order, it never really works out like that lol.

I voted for incompetence and when that fails, I blame the gear.

[FraserClarke]

I wouldn't put 'trying new equipment/techniques' down as time loss: you're just learning for the future

[brianb]

Observing visually. Imaging is still of secondary importance to me. The nice thing about working at the eyepiece is that it makes it possible to use cloud gaps which are NBG for imaging....

[tmarkuk]

Incompetence mostly, but a bit of all really. On Monday night as I walked out of the shed to go find tea, instead of turning off the switch for the red lights I switched off the whole shed., one of my more brilliant moments.