I'm not really sure, I suspect it was just the left focus as the problem did not seem that severe, the images were almost right - just not as sharp as I was used to either with a D200, D300 or D7000, (even after use of tripod, mirror lock-up etc.)so I was very disappointed expecting an improvement with the D800e, given the reviews that I had read - hence my thinking it was my technique and not the camera. However, looking at my current images I can now see how bad they really were in comparison - going from not quite good enough to stunning.