Hi Yves

Thanks for taking the time to reply and suggest a test.

Sorry, I should have explained more clearly. It wasn't that the lens didn't focus, it actually focused backwards and forwards, but the problem was although it claimed to have locked on the selected point, when viewing the photo it clearly hadn't. I tend to aim the centre point on the part of the picture I want to focus on then re-compose so I always control exactly where this point is. As I was using a bloody big bridge at the time I hope I can rule out user error!

Having thought about it further, am I right in thinking that the drive for the lens is contained within the camera? If so, could it be the body with the problem maybe?

I will report back when it's cold enough to test again. I'm not sure how I feel about putting it in the freezer !

Newcastle on a cold, crisp morning




Taken at 8am exactly (well, and 50 seconds!) on 29th January 2012 with a K-5 and a DA15.
ISO 320
F8
Shutter 1/10

Not offended at all Alan! You're quite right to point out that it is a very small lens and whilst it may make no difference I would have expected the problem to be more likely to manifest itself on longer and zoom lenses, hence my reply after Simon listed the lenses he used without a problem.

I'm pretty sure it was the camera. You're quite right to highlight that being sat continually on the tripod meant no heat was transferred from my hand so perhaps this had an influence. Also, I omitted to mention that the problem persisted when I got home (and had warmed up :wink. I then left the camera for a couple of hours; when I then tested it was fine.

I think I'll just have to try and replicate the conditions and see what happens then. Now I'll be looking for the problem, should it happen again I can do a few things differently and see what occurs.

And thank you for the compliment!

Thank you very much

Hmm, perhaps I have a problem then. The trouble is it's not going to show up when tested in a store unless they have a freezer! Hopefully it's a one off...

Thanks for the compliment Simon. Can I ask what lens were you using?

I bought a different tripod from Jessops late last year. It's carbon fibre and so much lighter than the Curry's offer. I have to admit it's the only one I've ever used so can't give you a comparison but I can give you a link! it's come down a further £10 since I bought it and is now £89.99.

If you look at my portfolio you can see a picture I took this morning. I got talking to a much better equipped chap than I (big Canon full frame, enormous tripod, remote release - you get the picture! Not that I was jealous..) who said that the only reason he had upgraded to a much larger, heavier sturdier tripod was because he needed that type of equipment for when he was in windswept areas. By this I think you can expect the one I have to struggle in particularly windy conditions but I have to say it was very good this morning. Light to carry, easy to set up and no movement whatsoever.

Hope that helps

Thanks everybody and a big thank you to Phillip for the kind comment! I only got the lens a couple of days ago and hadn't yet shot with a tripod apart from messing around in the home, so I resolved to go and take some pictures for practice more than anything else. Guess it was my lucky day to catch such a lovely sunrise combined with the still water. I bet if I do this another 20 times they won't be as good!

I had thought about the battery, but this still showed as full. It was more a case of it not locking focus on the part of the frame that it should have done, rather than not moving at all. So you could hear the screw drive whirring but it just didn't focus accurately on the part it should have. Thankfully I noticed! Also, it only started to do this after I'd been there for about an hour.

And thank you Mike for the image instruction. I was doing it right but clearly just taking the link from my browser wasn't correct.

I went out early this morning to take some photo's using my news lenses (DA15 and FA43). It was around zero/-2 and after a while the camera seemed to stop focusing properly. At first I thought it was the lenses. I've not really used them before and didn't have any others with me to check, but upon returning home and leaving the camera for a while to get to room temperature it appears that it now focus's fine.

The manual claims the camera will function down to -10 but has anybody had a similar experience? Might it just be a case of delicate, sensitive electronic equipment reaching it's operating limit, even though it wasn't as cold as the manual claims it should operate too? I know my fingers were bloody cold!

Here's one shot I liked...hope you do too.

link

PS. why won't it let me show the image in the post? I've read a topic regarding linking to Photobucket but following the same instructions didn't work for me with Flickr or, ironically, this sites gallery! Did I do something wrong?

Good advice, thank you all. So thanks very much for the offer, Mr Adobe, but I'll stick with Aperture 3 and persist in trying to get the best out of it!

I've received an email to highlight that with the imminent arrival of Lightroom 4, version 3 can be purchased for £95

link

So my, question: as an Aperture 3 user, does anybody with experience of both think that I'll benefit from buying Lightroom and using it instead of, or perhaps in addition to, Aperture?

I'm quite happy with Aperture, so I guess my question relates to any features Lightroom has over Aperture that maybe I hadn't considered and in particular is there an appreciable difference in the way it treats RAW files.

Thanks,

Simon