Lenses and bodies were tested in some ways more rigorously than they are now.

When did we last see a camera's shutter speeds tested? Or are we to assume that all designs now deliver 1/4000 sec when the shutter indication says so? I doubt it.

Lenses are tested quite well in AP, although very often the pictures shown as examples seem to bear little relation to what is in the text.

It looks as though we have to test for ourselves these days. Is it fit for purpose, that is our own purpose.

The logic behind this is that there is less DOF at the long end of a zoom, so focusing would be more accurate.

A word of caution though that this depends on a zoom being a true zoom and holding its focus throughout the range. Some "zooms" may not and some small degreee of refocusing could be necessary.

Zoom lenses should keep in focus as you zoom, but may not always be designed to do so perfectly and may need some refocusing. A lens which has to be refocused after a zoom change is called a varifocal. However, th 18-55mm is definitely a zoom and any refocusing would be small.

I think a more likely explanation is in the poor accuracy of manual focusing with wide angle lenses. It is not easy to focus a wide angle precisely - if you doubt that try focusing several times on an object and see how much the distance setting on the lens varies with each attempt.

When you zoom in to 55mm there is less DOF and the focusing error becomes more noticeable. For better focusing accuracy try it the other way round - focus at 55mm and then zoom out towatds 18mm.

Alternatively, let the AF system do the job for you.

Hope that helps!

I would suggest centre spot focusing, matrix metering and best quality JPEG for starters.

Use one exposure mode of choice (I use Av) for most of the time, unless something dictates a different setting.

Keep it simple, take lots of images and practice until the camera is second nature.

And enjoy it!

We are still using the Epson 1290s, which is very satisfactory. When it eventually dies there will be no hesitation in buying Epson again.

A very nice image - I particularly like the wide angle effect on the foreground.

The slightly curving horizon line is a shame, and maybe you could straighten it using Edit>Transform>Distort in CS2. Before you can do this you will need to convert the background layer to an unlocked Layer One (or whatever else you want to call it). Alternatively you can duplicate the layer and work on the duplicate.

I wondered about cropping just below the horizon line, and this I think also works, but of course that then changes your composition.

You are producing some terrific images Lilly!

It's as rule-light as possible.

Images should be no more than 1000 pixels to avoid scrolling as much as possible.

Deadline Midnight Sunday as george mentioned.

No posts apart from images in the actual competition thread - any comments put in will be deleted, so as to keep the thread clear for the judge.

The week's winner sets the next competition and judges the result.

You can now offer Pentax related items for sale in the new Classifieds section on the forum.

I think you need an eyepiece adapter for that. Alternatively you can project the image into the camera lens, but that sounds as if it might be tricky to get right.