It's wonderful that amateurs today have access to large apertures, computer-controlled scopes, on-line catalogues and sophisticated emulsions and detectors. It allows them to extend the power of their instruments and do professional level work and even some forms of scientific research. But there's also a lot to be said for just using a star chart and visual optics, star-hopping and the human eye, to interact with the universe directly under the stars. It's like the difference between a GPS and a sextant.

There's nothing like the thrill of knowing million-year old photons are impacting your retina, and perhaps that you are glimpsing some faint IC object, just a faint glow in a black field, that was discovered photographically a century ago and never before seen by a human eye, until now. Or to know that the galaxy you see tonight is exactly what Messier or Barnard saw through a similar scope so long ago.