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Yes, when looking for DSO target, it's crucial to have your eyes adapted to the darkness! It makes such a massive difference on how much you can see. Think about when you are in a dark room/at night and suddenly turn the light on: this feeling/pain you have in your eyes is your pupil rapidly contracting to reduce light influx. It will then take a while (10 minutes mini) to slowly dilate and let the light flow back in. So very important to avoid all kind of white light. Stick to red light and perhaps grab yourself a red light torch to help see you around. A good tool is a planisphere. That is literally a map of the sky and you can look at it with your red light torch to navigate the sky. If you are planning your night with some specific objects, why not print some maps ahead to help you star-hop your way to the object? I find it a good exercise to plan ahead how you will get to your target.
As previously mentioned, always start with your longest focal length eyepiece as this will give you the widest field of view and make it easier to star-hop. If you are thinking of upgrading your eyepiece, IMO for about the same budget there are better deals to be had out there than the standard Bintel plossl, such as the flat field eyepieces, but you need to have a look around the web and eBay.
But the most important is to keep observing and using your equipment. By doing this, you will improve your skills for finding your way to objets and train your eyes on observing and detailing them. I believe seeing and observing are 2 different things: it is easy to see an object, but to observe it means you take the time to detail it, look for faint details, explore the structure. A great tool to help with observing is peripheral vision: this is utilising the outer part of your eye rather than the centre part. It's the same zone that detects movement in the background, such as when you are focusing on something but your eye picks up some movement in the background and you instinctively look at it. That peripheral vision is actually surprisingly sensitive in its detection capabilities - a crucial evolutionary survival tool. To stimulate this zone of your eye, what you want to do is try not to stare at the objet directly. Instead look next to it, look at different points around the object and slowly move your eye around it. It takes a bit of practice and is a bit tricky because you will sometime pick some details and instinctively look at the object but then the moment you look at it straight, the details are gone. But practice that and it will truly help your observing and you will be able to make up more details in the objects you observe.
Keep us posted with your observations!
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