Great posts by Mike and Rob here
As Mike mentioned about studying planets visually, it pays to spend time at the eyepiece. I was observing through mine and Mike was looking through Daves scope when all of the sudden, the air became totally still and amazing detail jumped out for just a few seconds (just like Birds pics). Time spent at the eyepiece gives you a better chance of catching those all too brief moments of near perfect seeing.
I recall another occasion 2 years ago when I was viewing Jupiter when suddenly the air froze solid for about 10 seconds. White ovals and all the detail possible to see lept out and those are the moments you remember
I observe for the visual feast and arent interested in doing astrophotography for the simple reason that there are so many others who will do it better than I ever could
Id hate to spend a truckload of money to achieve a result that I could download from the net from the efforts of others. Im just happy that others do it and share their pictures with us