To get the best JPEG file from the camera it needs setting up. The default settings are not quite what I like, so I set Natural and +1 sharpness and that's it done. Premium quality is also necessary. Even then many images will need some adjustment, but it's usually minor.

To get the best from a RAW file there is also a bit of work to be done before it's saved as something else, be it a JPEG or TIFF.

I have to admit we have a slight weakness for justeat.co.uk which offers delivery from countless food establishments of all types, or maybe Pizza Hut. Ordering online and just waiting for delivery is so convenient...

But it's also loaded with calories and we do try to resist. A bit.

We don't do politics on PU....there are too many things in the world to get angry about and we stick with photography, which gets exciting enough!

Quite right Mark, I've moved it.

Sorry, links to competitive product sources are not allowed on PU. We're not here to advertise Nikon products....

I would use the wide aperture lens and get up close for the shots.

That's a new one, never heard of it happening either. At least you had a fairly useful lens stuck on the camera, not something obscure.

Hope the repair doesn't take too long.

So far. I haven't adjusted any lenses and my images are sharp when and where required. Maybe the situation is over-fretted about, maybe I've been lucky, maybe my images are lamentably bad and I've not noticed yet.

On the other hand, maybe the lenses I haven't liked have actually been badly adjusted at the factory. In fairness though I have yet to find an SMC Pentax-M 85mm f2 lens that I do like, so I've tried a few and there is a consistency there. And every SMC Pentax-M 100mm f2.8 I've owned has been gorgeous.

As for modern lenses, I haven't rejected any since I started using DSLRs with the *istDS.

It may be that people look much more closely at their images than was ever done with film. There were film focusing and alignment problems, usually to do with film flatness, but they were not worried about too much.

It may also be true that modern zoom lenses are so complex that there is a certain amount of manufacturing error in their construction, especially as the use of plastics has grown and prices have fallen. These errors can now be seen on our computer screens and the technology is there to correct them post manufacture.

Of course the technology is also with us to correct distortion in lenses, so does this mean that we are on a path where manufacturers make cheaper lenses and correct the faults in camera? I hope not, but give it another 10 years and we'll see.

You have the 77mm and 100mm macro, so why not add the 200mm f2.8?