Thanks so much to everyone who responded to say the barrel slide-out feature of the lens is (sadly) normal; I bought the lens used and didn't even notice until after I'd used it for some time. I can live with the sliding out of the barrel but it gets a bit tedious. I've noticed some of my images not as sharp as they could be and my guess is that it's caused by the barrel slipping...even slightly. Now that I know this is normal I can think less of ways to repair it and focus more on holding it in place where I want it when I shoot. Thanks so much, Lea Lea Murphy Whiny Dog Press www.whinydogpress.com New images www.whinydogpress.com/new.html Picture a Week PAW http://www.whinydogpress.com/paw.html
