It all depends on how well you like the control set of a particular camera. Myself, I wouldn't use anything other than the original *st D unless they come out with something with a better control set.

That said, you should try to look at each camera and see if it fits your shooting style. Some like the DS or DL for various features that they have.

It's a very individual matter, you arte the one who knows your shooting style.

That's what the forums are for, there are a whole lot of us to do the thinking. So if one of us misses something, the rest might pick up on it!

The Limited lenses do indeed have nine blades, and they are magnificent! They are also expensive! I have the 31 and the 77, I feel they're worth the price!

No, it's not you. There is not a lot of DOF when shooting really close up.

Just look for an old 45-125 like I mentioned above.

It's an old manual lens, but we all used manual lenses for many years before all this auto stuff came out, and we got some great photos!

Personally, I find the 16-45 coupled with an old 45-125 to be the perfect :"walk-around" kit for the D. I usually add the 31mm 1.8 as a low-light normal lens.

I have two MX's with winders, and I learned early on to stay away from variable apeture lenses.

Of course, with my *st D it's probably not an issue, but with older M and K lenses it still creates confusion on the *st D.

Back to the 1960's, which is when I started. Pentax and Zeiss were THE lens companies.

Pentax is on a roll, hope they keep it up!

When doing portraits I sometimes find it useful to use one of the other focusing points, as the person's head is closer to the top of the frame. You can choose which focus point the camera uses.

One thing that I never do is use multipoint autofocus. It's got to be one of the most usless technological advances ever foisted on the public. After all, the camera has no idea what you're trying to focus on!

Stick with center point or select one specific focus point. Saves a lot of greif!

I suspect the engineers developed the multipoint auto select just "because we can", rather like the 3-blade lens blur option in Photoshop.

I think it's worth getting the 16-45, it's a superb lens. So is the 12-24 (I have both). It sounds like the 16-45 will get you going just fine, it'll give you the same angle of view your 24mm gives on a film camera.