1. well, bouncing backward is used on certain condition, not all, and it is VERY BAD, because u going to blind unprepared people behind u. hahahahaha. Yes, bouncing behind usually is used for large apperture. eg:2.8 and below. but with another condition is that, the room MUST be poorly lit. meaning, it must have less natural light (like those ballroom, they are brightly lit with tungsten, very badddd,... again, read #4.)
2. urghhh... if u are inexperince, dont. because worst part is u are bouncing backwards, thus, u may not have a consistent distance of bounce area to bounce back the light, u might get 10% light back, or 30%, or 60%, or just 5%, thus ur exposure will be in a MESS.
3. erm... u really need to learn and understand the Custom WB urself. it takes time.... else, set it to AWB and let the bionz do thier job. usually if u see on ur LCD< it will have 50% more red. once u bring back to ur computer LCD< the proper color is there, it wont be That Red u see on ur camera lcd. (forgot to tell u, the camera lcd for A300 series is 50% more red)

4. now you know. it's like, if ur room light is blue, after flash (photo should be white) but the blue light travel pretty fast too, 1/60 prehaps enough to cause a 40% overwrite of blue light, hence, u will get a 40% cooler(blue) photo

so, ballroom usually is over lit with tungsten, red=orange, warmer light.... so, imagine when u uses F2.8, the amount of orange will be overwrite ur photo would be 20-40%... so most of ur photo are more 'warm' by about 20-40%...

so it is ur technique, not the camera limitation.... u lack of knowledge and experince.

also, that is the reason (i assumed) that the guys asked u to get to 5000k, but if me, i would use a gel card instead if i wan a proper overall WB

5. sigh, i am lazy to list laaa.... nikon and canon numbering is quite mess... sony also la... LOL

entry level
Canon 450D, 1000D, 500D
Nikon D60, D90, D5000, D3000
Sony A300, A330, A550?

Mid Level
Canon 40D, 50D (see the number is 2 digit, like nikon entry level)
Nikon D300, D700, D300s (see the number is 3 digit, like canon's entry level numbering)
Sony A700, A850

Pro level... no need tell la... u wont be getting it any soon also

then crop 1 to 1 pixel

1 sentence, u LACK of experince (very agreed  ).... so Nope, it is not the limitation.

but few thing i really wanna ask u,
1. why to u bounce backward for?!?!? hmm..actually the nikon guy try to help me since his camera getting much good ambient lighting
2. why do u use manual flash, i assume u are totally inexperince with flash, And camera.... u should just let TTL do thier job. i asked alpharian, he recomend me to use this setting, i just follow since no experience shooting in this type ballroom.
3. 5000k WB, sigh, if ur flash werent properly used, every photo will have diff WB color, due to the "white 5500k color" from flash arent properly bounce to the front/subject. and reach #4. this one also follow the alpha sifu in the dinner  
4. u have to know this. when apperture bigger then F2.8, all natural light in the surrounding will mostly overwrite the flash  (5500k) color... thus u will get 40-70% more overwrite towards the natural light... i am not aware of this leh. u mean when i adjust aperture F2.8------> F1.7, i might getting the ambient light with flash gun condition? but this not depend on how strong the flash power ?
5. 40D is a mid level camera, u cant compare with A300, if u like, take out a A700 to compare  dont bring a kancil to a sportcar race ler.... i thought D60 > 40D hmm.. mistake. i have not seen A700 above, but the 40D is kinda awesome of the photo my fren take

there are ways to overcome the problem, one of them is to learn properly the flash uses. then learn more bout white balance, and lastly, read up bout gel card and how it helps in WB.

jimlim007: The answer is - you are too n00b.  (agreed la, got 'too' somemore   )

- increase ambient exposure by using a slower shutter speed and higher ISO. Use Manual Exposure instead.
- don't ever put on a CPL filter unless you want to use it! (ya lor, over pandai  , CPL remove d)
- objects are blur because you turned off the flash and it is using a slow shutter speed. (i am also suspect this for my blur photo, if not it will need send to calibrate like clivengu case?)
- you are metering for the background so you really do not have to keep adjusting it for every shot (metering for the backgorund? not understand....)

Anyway, you can focus on the body if you want as you may find, it is in the similiar plane of focus. Anyway you can choose the AF point you want, yes? actually i really not understand how to choose AF point? the nikon fren show me his camera got feature can select the small rectangular box in the LCD screen so that the point he select will have much more focus... he asking me my camera have similar feature or not, i actually also duno have or not.

OMGGGGGG what's with all the empty spaces???? what's with u and 40D/5D? u like it so much go ahead and buy them, then show us if u can get the same image you 'think' you should be getting...

u dun have to confirm WB by using LV, after u take a pic, cant u tell that it's not the color temperature u want? what if those who doesnt have LV? no need check WB?

my little dino is really dino compared to A300 and still the shots come out better than what you shown. it's not gear problem, it's user problem.

instead of asking so much, you should just join any of the TT sessions (sony or not) and Q&A there lor. wanna join us this Sunday for TT? (if you're in Klang Valley la)

would advice u to upload the flickr(recommended but slightly more troublesome if u need to copy lots of links)/picasa and share the photos here...

not to comment on the image quality..i feel that the composition has alot of space to improve..both top n bottom were cropped outside the frame..and i'd prefer to shoot it from lower angle(eye level) and place it slightly toward the side..
@ Killabee88
i LOVE the first short~!!!!! but i'd prefer to remove the reddish in the eyes tho..

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Added on November 27, 2009, 5:46 pm

then thats the problem bro..u only shoot 3k of photos in a year(i did roughly 20k for my first year)..u never practice enough...and thru out the 3k shots..u never review what did u did wrongly...instead u choose to regret when u really need urself/ur camera to perform..thats a lil bit too late for me..

and reading manual isnt all..u need to try after u read..if u couldnt get it..ask around.....see some interesting shots by others..try urself see whether u could do similar stuff..if u couldnt do it..ask again..

u dont expect to buy a car and put it in ur garage..drive it once inawhile to fetch ur kid from sch...and after 1year later u wan to have Fernando Alonso skill...right?