Wot you mean there are other forums

Great first one, is it reinforced concrete of a semi demolished building, I can't quite get to grips with what it is. I just like it's abstract qualities

Just a thought Fiona, for flowers nature and stuff, try to get a shot/loan/steal of a Benbo tripod, you will find it as all the guys say here heavy enough, but also has a unique action in use with the added benefit of water proof due to its leg construction. These can also be bought on Ebay for not much money these days.

I jumped from Paintshop Pro 8 staright to CS3 Extended, I have no regrets, I will admit it was a massive learning curve for me (still learning)

Maybe it's a record, but rain stopped play here

The window you refer to comes on at start up right? If so this is the camera asking for confirmation of the focal length of the lens in this case 50 (setting can be changed using the left & right keys on the ring around the OK button). This is for updating the camera as to which lens is in use and the for the shake reduction system. The kit lens you use has extra electrical contacts which allows to camera and lens to communicate, where as the older lenses do not.

Make sure that when you are using the manual focus lenses that the camera body is also set to manual focus (MF position), if left on autofocus (AF.S & AF.C) the camera sometimes behaves as you describe, not always firing first go.

Concerning the sharpness issue, assuming the lens is all good, no damage etc, I found that just slow things down little and ensure that your focussing is spot on, what looks OK when quickly viewed sometimes needs a tad adjusted.

Hope this helps.

There's a few folk here who need to get out more

I guess thats me told then

I’m using currently using SanDisk Extreme III 4Gb SDHC cards in K10D, but I see 8Gb are available now and no doubt 16Gb and larger will just be round the corner.

Apart from the “all eggs in one basket” scenario, is there any limits imposed by the K10D on the size of cards that can be used?

I posted this on another thread on this forum today, it seems just as valid here as well.

"I've covered many sports events over the years, both indoor & outdoor events of various types and have come to the conclusion early on that "brand" is not the important thing, and especially the brands around you that other folk use.

Believe me I have jostled with all manner of elbows and equipment and still managed to raise the odd eyebrow of the competition.

Capture the “great image” is what it's about; my Pentax kit has always delivered without drama, even in some of the most adverse conditions."