Focus bug with my P7700?

I believe I had a similar issue as to what you are describing... I was trying to focus on a white church from my car window, and I achieved lock. Then I zoomed to a better crop, and I could not attain lock. When I zoomed out, I could not attain lock again either. I thought it might be because the white church was too featureless, but it perplexed me enough to return mine to B&H for an exchange. I haven't duplicated the problem yet, and I cannot honestly say the focus ability of the second copy is any better, but I will try to do your test and report back. I really do love the camera otherwise (see my post, "P7700 vs G15: my impressions").  I too am hoping they can do a firmware upgrade, and while theyre at it, also include a shorter minimum interval on their built-in intervalometer!

All of the above not withstanding, I was in NYC the other night, and experienced no significant focus issues, even in low light. I thought the camera performed great.