Originally posted by Petermgr I have done some testing and starting to realize I really need to understand that a zoom lens needs to handled differently from the standard kit lens.
Of course, the kit lens is a zoom too. Any lens that does not have only a single focal length is a zoom. The difference is that the 18-250 is a "superzoom", and in particular, it is a telephoto zoom - it's maximum focal length is 250 instead of just 55. The more telephoto the lens, the faster the shutter speeds you need in order to avoid camera shake, even with SR.
Quote: Perhaps the softer image I see in the K20D (compared to the *istDS) may not be a fault, but rather the way the image should look, more natural and allowing room for post sharpening by software.
Nah, it's just a matter of the DS not having enough resolution to expose the weaknesses of the lens.
Quote: Exposure time - 1/125 s
...
Focal length - 250 mm
Note that even with SR, this is not really fast enough a shutter speed to ensure a sharp picture. It's not impossible, and it looks like you did OK in this particular case. But if yo're having problems getting sharp pictures at 250mm and 1/25 shutter speed, that shouldn't be even the slightest bit surprising.