That situation calls for well practised manual focusing and good depth of field imo- whatever brand of camera you are using. Prefocus at 30-40 feet and fine tune as required.

Might the mirror be misaligned? Have you tried comparing the live view image with the viewfinder? Might be an idea to put the camera on a tripod and investigate.

I agree Mike! But I don't think the 18-250 is that shocking. The K20d is reviewed with this as the 'kit lens' on the Camera Labs site. It seems better than the standard kit lenses on the sony, olympus and canon it was tested alongside.

Oh I dunno Mike, I'd pay good money to see the Pope go 12 rounds against the Ayatollah...
...As far as this thread goes, nothing strikes me as that controversial.

[quote:3496ace15f="johnriley"]I didn't get that from Damien's comments, when I read them in context. I think he was saying it was strange that people would buy a Pentax in preference to a Samsung when it is common knowledge that the two cameras are clones.

As far as the letter goes, his comments were wide of the mark IMO... Apart from the more 'high end' lenses, the Pentax prices don't seem especially high, and the DSLR body prices are very reasonable for what you are getting. And I have only seen good reviews for the K-7 and K-x, so I don't know where he gets the idea that Pentax DSLRs aren't quite good enough! I don't see Pentax as a company losing the plot, as he put it, but one which has produced two great new cameras including a surprise 'hit' in the K-x, in a very difficult year.

Yep, nice shot. I like the colour one the best, despite the purple haze. (Hey!) I'm sure that purple colour can be cleaned up.

That's a beautifully crisp and detailed little 'mini garden' Mike. The lighting is sumptuous.

Can't see the wood for the trees?

They're so clear on that point they stated it twice! Depressing. When I was in the same position as you last year, I looked at an advert for a 'baby photographer' for an specialist agency. Again it stressed that no photographic knowledge was required - I suppose they would rather start with a blank slate and 'program' you to take pictures their way.

That's a terrific mod. Nice shot, but it did need that little lift! PS I just spotted that quote in your sig Andrew, what a good quote!