I have no idea how to take the focussing screen out on a DL, and I hardly dare, just in case clumsy me cannot but the thing back in!

As to the lens I shall get in touch with the shop again. It really is starting to annoy me that I "saved" money by buying zooms and thank heavens I bought one "limited" the 40mm.

Maybe after I sort this episode out I will sell the zoom.

However I have a secondhand 18-35 FA J - clean as a whistle.

Perhaps my DA 50-200 is a shoddily assembled one, although it seems to take reasonable photos and its actions feel okay to me.

I have an international guarantee, so I will go to my nearest camera shop this morning and see what they will offer to do. If I get it fixed or receive a new lens, I will sell it and buy a prime lens instead.

Next time I go near the camera shop, I will take this lens for sure. Also in my DL on the focussing screen I have dust that doesn't move. I bought a big bulb blower, and I even gingerly clean with a micro-cloth the focussing screen and mirror, but the stuff is still there. So I give up on that, I will ask if they can clean it in the shop.

Mine is that there is dust there in the first place. I have a three month-old camera and two DA lenses and the zoom has already got dust inside. I have never come across this before across the three other different makes I have used in the past.

I just hope that I can put up with it, having spent what I consider enough on a new system - which up to now I really do like using.

I used to own a Canon AE1, A1 and a couple of other cameras including a Zenith. I never had dust inside the lenses, so I am surprised that on such a modern lens I have dust.

I hope you are right and it does not affect my pictures.

I seem to have dust on the inner front element of a fairly new DA 50-200, I have had it bought with camera since January.

I have cleaned the outer glass - that's fine.

Also have some stubborn dust on the focussing screen, but can live with that, but I am horrified at my lens having crap inside of it.

Anyone else had this or is it just my usual good fortune?!

Graham

Agreed when I tried years ago a few colour prints instead of b & w we used Cibachrome and it was as you said expensive and smelly. Great quality prints though.

On convenience alone digital is King.

On quality of a printed result, I think it depends who is printing and on what and with what.

I switched back to using top quality jpg, as John says above, all the questions and half-answers and future questions become mostly irrelevant as to the future of any of the so-called RAW formats.

I found another PEF capable software to evaluate direct from Japan:-

SilkyPix 2E - http://www.isl.co.jp/SILKYPIX/english/

It is the fastest RAW editor I have come across. It is not free, costs about 16,000 YEN.

Another way to handle things for those who cannot afford Aperture, is Extensis Portfolio. I use this in conjunction with iPhoto. All my untouched PEF files are documented in Portfolio, and from there I export them to .jpg files and into iPhoto. From iPhoto I make selections for viewing on the TV. From Portfolio I make selections for the Internet/Printing etc. I like Portfolio, it has saved me a lot of time, and I know where everything is. It also supports directly Pentax PEF. Until Apple supports this file format, I would not consider the purchase of Aperture at any price.

I have sold my zooms and standardized on Pentax-M lenses. I just love the solid feeling and the way focussing manually is a pleasure with these lenses also of course ultimately I like the results I am getting.