All the Q needed was for people to approach it with an open mind. Finally, the message seems to be getting through!

It sounds like you're not overly familiar with internet forums, but you've been motivated to make a first post, so that's a start.

Before we explain the process, do you mean the Gallery from the top menu or the Gallery in Your Pictures section in the forum?

In practical use the two lenses will both be great. There may well be different characteristics, for example the 18-135mm goes for crisp, wiry detail rather than the highest resolution. So high MTF20 results and lowewr MTF50 results. The end result is a very fine lens that suits many of us.

The 17-70mm I haven't tried, but I'm sure it's very satisfactory.

If you're going into potentially damp environments then the WR level of the 18-135mm might be good. The 17-70mm is reputed to be weather resistant but Pentax make no claims in that area.

Now there's a dilemma...an eBay picture will be quite boring if it shows what it should show. Basically it's a good record of whatever the item is.

Shop fronts and Christmas markets have nothing to do with eBay but could make for much more exciting images.

I'll move this to Troubleshooter in a moment.

Go to My Settings>Profile Information and select from your hard drive and upload a new avatar.

I've not personally reviewed the K30, but I have personally used pentamirror and pentaprism finders from Pentax and many others.

A pentaprism finder is brighter and clearer. It's definitely to be preferred.

You don't need to change mode to take still oraction shots. In Av, for example, if you open the aperture you will get the same faster shutter speed that you might set in Tv. The two are inter-connected to give the same overall exposure.

The exposure compensation is usually a plus/minus button - press it and a small bar display shows up. The control wheel will then change the value shown. Press the button again to clear it from the display, but bear in mind it stays set until you change it again.

If you go into the menu you can select auto ISO, you can select the range limits, but you can also select a fixed ISO value if you prefer.

Shade is a white balance setting. That's fine if you want very warm images, but generally you might consider setting to daylight. AWB is also useful for mixed lighting.

Welcome Matt.

The 18-250mm is actually a pretty good lens, and highly sought after. You could wait a short while and go for the new 18-270mm which is based on the excellent Tamron design. It would extend the range slightly, and the original tests on the Tamron version suggested it was also a better performer.

With a more limited range, the 18-135mm is proving itself to be excellent for general use, fast focusing and also weather resistant.

It seems to me that for travel photography you would be well equipped with the 12-24mm and 18-270mm. You could add the 35mm f/2.4 or 50mm f/1.8 for low light situations.

The sensor on the DSLR is much bigger, so noise levels will be less and the smoothness of the image will be improved. It is a very different beast and a higher quality level.

Having said that, the X90 is a splendid camera that has a fantastic lens range from macro to super telephoto. There's no cheap way to emulate all it can do with a DSLR. It's also lighter and more compact.

However, as you have seen, it is also slower to operate and especially slower to focus. If the picture looks washed out it's probably because the deep shadows are fololing the meter in the camera. There is an exposure compensation button that will help you to change the brightness of the image. If the subject is dark, use a minus figure to keep it dark.

The green mode is a setting where the camera does all the thinking and the options the user has are reduced. Try the P (program) setting to give some more options, but leave it there until, with a bit more practice, the images start to look better.

Hope that helps!