New here+news alpha series

Hi, I am new here. I just bought a Sony Alpha 100 a month ago which I now use together with my old DSC F717, which I still like a lot.

I read the thread about possible bad news on the Alpha series. I searched on the European forums and found a fresh press release on a Dutch website that they had been invited to the European launch of new Sony cameras in September. They say they expect the launch of at least one new Sony Alpha camera, possibly even 2. More news on this subject was on http://www.photoclubalpha.com

No lenses are being pulled from stores in The Netherlands, no rumours about bad news on the Dutch forums. The Dutch forums are actually buzzing good news. Maybe the launch of new cameras will be in Europe first?

One thing that I do know is that Sony is having enormous problems with the delivery of ordered goods. They have had that problem for years now in The Netherlands and it is getting worse. I had to have my DSC F717 repaired (usual CCD problem) a while ago and due to the take-over of the service department of KM the chaos at the repairs department is also complete. They managed to loose my camera, found it back, sent it back to me unrepaired, they lost it again the second time I sent it to them and after over 2 months I got it back repaired, which was the reason I had to buy a second camera. I know the situation in Germany is about the same as in The Netherlands. Repairs take awfully long (due to parts not being in stock at Sony and their lack of employees) and ordered accessories can take months to arrive.

I do have a question...I have the kit with the 18-70 lens and the 75-300 lens and I am not very happy about the latter one. It really does have ugly discs in the blurry zones (bad bokeh), especially compared to the lens qualities of the F717 (but according to the salesman at the store I am pretty spoiled by the 717 lens and that would be the cause for my unhappiness, maybe that is true and I am spoiled...). Can anyone recommend a tele-zoom lens that is really good for the Sony Alpha???

Ellen