ok..i have successfully removed the lens. i have been messing with it all afternoon and got exhausted fooling with it so i set it down and right before i'm getting ready for bed i picked the camera up to put in the camera bag and gave it a final twist for the night and it came right off..go figure..thanks for everyones help...tomorrow i'll give it run with some test shots and see what kind of trouble i might have with the shutter? hopefully it was the lens that was making the shutter respond the way it was.