The answer to your question lies in the above comments Chris. I never noticed it but tended to shoot at larger apertures. IQ is outstanding at f2.5. It's better than the Cosina, which I wouldn't pay more than £50-ish for (manual focus version), but the Cosina's still pretty good.

My thoughts exactly. I'm seeing a silver balloon which is much closer than the 747, and it's the classic slightly flattened helium party balloon shape. When I saw one up in the sky it confused my eyes because it seemed to change shape rhythmically, until I noticed it was actually just slowly turning...

Love that Rastamouse... it's in the tradition of those wacky stop-motion animations I used to watch when I was a kid. And you can't tell whether it's either very politically correct or very politically incorrect!

Lens arrived in beautiful condition. Thanks Eric

(Delay was due to Paypal taking a while to clear)...

It's not a Chinese Lantern (who lets them off during the day?) Tim has it right, I'm sure. It looks like a silver helium party balloon with something hanging from it - probably another balloon which has burst! I remember seeing one of these floating (slowly rotating) through the air a few years ago, and was convinced I was seeing something not-of-this-world, until my eyes locked on properly and I suddenly realised what it was!

The focus point indicated by the centre red square should be a small enough area. Remember you can always use quick shift to fine tune further.

When I tried installing vlc I got a message saying 'not available on this configuration' or summat. I checked an ubuntu forum and changed some settings (ticked a 'universe' check any somewhere?) but it still won't work.

Ubuntu installed... and it's like a rocket! Thanks to Matt for the tip. It was troublesome to install on the laptop as the damn thing wouldn't boot from the CD after I changed the boot sequence, but I installed it *within* windows in the end. (None of these problems on my XP set up, so it must be another Vista annoyance...) So Vista's still there when it's needed - you get to choose which OS to boot to...

It's quick and as simple to use, perfect for t'internet etc.

The only thing that annoys me is it seems to need to ask me for the password for a lot of things! I also gave up trying to install VLC but the bundled media player is actually pretty good anyway...

I agree... I tend to say cropping more than framing, usually when criticising an awkwardly framed shot. When looking at a shot it's not so relevent whether the poor composition is a result of cropping in PP or poor framing... the composition is the important thing. I think I stopped using framing because people get confused about that term too.... does it mean the border added in PP, or does it refer to natural framing within the shot e.g. a view through a window....

Could say the same thing for the silver bodied metal film SLRs like the ME Super... Black and silver go well together.

I like the look of this special edition, but it all comes down to whether it looks or feels plasticky or painted-on... I know the camera is metal-clad but I presume the silver is just a paint finish rather than exposed metal.