To collimate or not collimate? - THAT is the question
So, you have a new scope, Mak, SCT, Newt, dob, whatever. The image it throws up "is pretty good"
you reckon so you don't make any adjustments. That's fine.
But remember this - astro is ALL about pushing the very limits of optics to get the very best image your gear can give you. Astro is pretty much the most punishing application of optics that there is! So while you may be happy with the current image your scope gives you, if it is out of collimation, you are only cheating yourself out of the very best your precious scope can give you. So, you have a darn nice scope, but without getting the optical alignment right, the scope effectively has a "black eye"...
At the factory, there are time pressures to push out scopes, or you may have got a scope collimated at 4:00pm on a Friday arvo with the technician paying more attention to the clock than the job at hand, or the technician may feel near enough is good enough, or the technician doesn't know how to get the collimation any better. So the stuff coming straight out of the factory may or may not be good, but rarely is it as good as the scope can be.
So now, after doing all your research, spending your hard earned cash, and feeling pretty good with your purchase, the way I see it you owe it to yourself to become really well acquainted with your scope so YOU can squeeze every single photon into where it should go.
"Scared" about stuffing something up? What are you scared of? If things do go pearshaped, THAT is actually a good thing! You learn from your mistakes, AND this site and others like it are here
to help you get it right!, or did you forget that!
Believe it or not, I still "stuff up" the collimation process, and sometimes stuffing it up is part of the "getting it right" process! Sometimes the element that you do adjust is not the one that actually needed tweaking, and it is only by stuffing up that you become aware of this.
Oh, and another thing, as your experience grows, so does your visual acuity, and you will pick up on things not being quite right. So while at first you may not notice that the collimation isn't quite right, YOU WILL, and it will bother you like a stone in your shoe!
And then what? Are you going to leave that stone in your shoe?
Alex.