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Hi Ian,
Normally I'm waiting impatiently for the equilibrium point so I can start imaging - this means I have camera gear + filter wheel + barlow all fitted into the focusser and ready to go, so I don't want to pull it all out and check the collimation :-)
I've implemented a "collimation scope" which is an old 6x30 finderscope (eyepiece removed) + my firewire camera from last year, this is such a small and stable scope that it never shifts out of collimation, so I can compare the views through it to the view through the main scope, and adjust the collimation screws on the primary to keep them in agreement. In practice this works quite well, and means I can keep the camera gear in the scope all through the session.
I can have both video windows open at the same time on my laptop, and it's easy to compare the images coming from both scopes. The collimation scope fits onto the main scope just like an extra finderscope.
An extra benefit, the larger field of view in the collimation scope makes it a breeze to find things that are close-to but not-quite-in the field of the main camera.
cheers, Bird
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