[adam]

Hi!

I took some night shots last night when out with Julian, but when I came home and looked at it on my laptop, it didn't seem that sharp (particularly details in building windows in the distance).
I used a sturdy tripod (055 ProB + 322RC2 head), remote switch and mirror lockup, however it still isn't that sharp.
I'm starting to think that my expectations from the gear is too high, or that I'm doing something wrong

I'm also trying to find a suitable example, but in doing so (when trying to make a 100% around the focussing point I used), I found that either it was on manual focus (perhaps why?), or that my focussing point was somewhere that didn't have something I wanted to focus on) - because if the subject doesn't fit into the focussing grid, I'd just focus-lock-recompose.
How should I go about getting the sharpest image possible? I know it might sound strange, but it might also be because I'm becoming dissatisfied with my gear! (or just too-high-expectations).

I was using a Tokina 12-24 with 30D body, shooting at f/8 with shutter speeds ranging from 10-30 seconds.
I'll try to find some suitable examples