Pentax processing software.

Also the Pentax Digital Camera Utility should work with jpegs ...I admit I've never tried it with them. .

Sorry, I've not picked up from your posts so far Emil, do you actually have PDCU ? Did you get the disc with the camera? If so then it should be fine to install without an internet connection. I don't remember any online registrations requirement.

It should be ok to tweak the jpegs' with it. It has mainly similar controls to the camera custom image settings, plus exposure, colours, Noise Reduction, lens corrections etc. It's main purpose is RAW conversion from the camera raw output into jpegs. Il double check later if its ok with jpegs.

Robi, basic problem,as explained in my op, is that I can not download.

Mc! No not got the camera or its disc yet. Just want be sure when I do get them that I can process and print jpegs with the software disk that comes in the box.

Many thanks for all your help.

On a different point, does anyone run seminars on Pentax cameras as I did for the Z1 I in 1990s?

I can confirm now that my version of PDCU (4.40) does display and edit the out-of-camera jpegs from my K7. I ran through a few steps which all worked fine.

One point I noted was that automatic options for Lens Corrections were greyed out, but the manual adjustments were available. The lens was the DA18-55 AL WR which certainly does have automatic lens corrections available for the RAW files. I can only assume that once the JPEGs have been processed in the camera that the specific metadata that relates to the lens corrections is not saved by the jpeg format ... ?

However, if the lens corrections were activated already at the capture stage on the camera then there should not be any need for additional automatic corrections .... you can tweak things manually if needed.

So it does work for jpegs. I chose 'Save As' from the File menu once I'd finished the adjustments, and was able to choose a new name and file location .... there is the option of saving as another jpeg (with 4 'compression' levels), or an 8 or 16bit TIFF file. The default image size (pixel dimensions) is the full size as saved originally by the camera (in my case they were full size 14.5mb). But there is the option in the 'Save As' dialogue of choosing custom sizes for your new jpeg versions.

So its really quite a comprehensive set of options for saving new edited versions of your jpegs. The original jpeg from the camera will not be overwritten or changed at all if you choose the 'save as' option from the file menu. I would keep the two versions in separate folders on the computer ... one for the originals as backup, and one for your everyday use of the edited versions. Then be sure to backup the computer or keep copies of your photo folders also on an external drive (or 3 !).

You are likely to find that for many shots, so long as you have set the custom image controls well on the camera, that you won't be needing any further editing for many shots. But some may benefit from further adjustment.

PDCU is an option for you .... it can be a slow programme to run, so some patience may be needed when its starting and you're browsing your folders to select images to work on. If you know your camera controls well then the interface of PDCU is very similar. The interface and editing features of PhotoShop Elements is certainly more suited to working on jpeg files, with far more control and choices ... but its a personal preference as to whether you want to start out learning about working with PhotoShop tools or not.

Are you aware that the K-50 can process / edit /crop etc. pictures in the camera without even the need for a PC? See pages 191 & 192 in the manual. You can even do special effects like extracting one or two colours, convert to monochrome, adjust levels and so on much like in PC software.
If you take the images in RAW format you'll get more leeway with any adjustments, be that in camera or on a PC and do the save as a jpeg.
If you want photo editing PC software (other than PDCU which I believe you have so try that first) Photoshop Elements is great but isn't free though can be purchased from retailers. If you want something for free and cannot do the download yourself, get someone to download an image editing program for you and save it onto a memory stick and install it from that. Something like Irfanview or Picassa are free and reliable programs and neither are disk hogs to clutter up your hard drive.

McG and JAK, thank you both for te advice and McG, thanks for the work you have done on my behalf.
I will now be able to go ahead on my birthday in Feb.

Thanks again to every body who replied.

Happy New Year.

Ross/emil ( elderly man in Lycra )

You and I have had this discussion before, Nigel. PDCU is not supplied with the K-50. Only with the K-7/K-5 series and K-3 series (flagship models).
Mid-range Pentax DSLRs are supplied with SilkyPix.

You can download PDCU5 from Ricoh but to install it you need to put the setup file onto a USB flash drive and rename the volume label to S-SW140

Downbload the update setup here:
http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/support/digital/dc_utility5_win.html