You're right. And why is this? Because experience teaches that the majority (a very large majority) of reported equipment failings are attributable to operator error or operator ignorance.

On the face of it, this would appear to be another example, exacerbated by a know-it-all attitude.

It really doesn't matter how many pictures you have taken if you don't know what you're doing. Before you waste time taking the lens to Pentax (who will keep it for three months to punish you) do some proper tests on a tripod in good light.

Then tell us who is at fault. Your concert pictures prove nothing at all.

G

Perhaps the problem lies not in our star lens, Brutus, but in ourselves.

Not only are you hand-holding at low shutter speeds, but you are shooting wide-open. The resultant depth of field is so small that most of the picture will be out of focus anyway, and when you add a bit of camera shake, you are bound to have a very fuzzy image.

To test your lens, put it on a tripod in good light and do some controlled exposures at different apertures and shutter speeds. Then you can determine whether there really is something wrong with the lens.

Plain simple!!

G

'Tis better to travel hopefully than to arrive.

G

Love the first one.

G

Like Tyr, I think it is reasonable to expect a 400mm lens, but I doubt if we will see anything longer in the near future. The potential market for such lenses really doesn't justify producing them. At any rate, not until Pentax has a significantly larger market share than it does at the moment.

G

That's the easy bit. I have a DB5 convertible and a castle in a loch on my wish-list. Paying for them is another matter.

I look forward to these dark landscapes with no DOF. Could start a new photographic genre.

G

Very difficult to quantify, especially as the 16-50 has an internal focus motor.

However, I would say (off the top of my head, and without doing any comparative tests) that the K10D and 16-50 focus significantly more quickly than any other lens/camera combo I have used.

And it's pretty good, though not perfect, in low light (where flash is essential).

Its ability to focus quickly, and to find focus in low light, was one of the justifications for my buying the lens.

G

Yes.

G

Not yet, but I probably will. The purist in me thinks WINE is a bit of a cop-out, but the realist says do whatever is easiest. Time waits for no man.

Of course, Irfanview handles DNG files.

G

The Eee PC is not a substitute for a full-size laptop, but it is fantastic as a small, light, cheap, well-sorted, travelling companion.

It is also finding a use in our house as an email machine for my nonagenarian parents. They find full-sized laptops too big and clumsy, but can cope with the Eee. I suspect we'll soon end up with three.

G