I'd clone a few of the blemishes out too, while I was at it.

I've shot a lot of HDR recently (pretty much exactly the same way that Matt has gone about it, except I use Photomatix Pro). A five (or even 3) shot bracket will almost always produce a better image than a single shot processed several times.

I know some people use the single-shot approach if they don't have a tripod to hand, but I've found the auto-align option in Photomatix to work well (but a tripod is preferred)

EDIT:

You can find out how to get a discount on Photomatix from this HDR tutorial http://stuckincustoms.com/2006/06/06/548/

True

So I can post any old tat from my Archive?

To be honest, I prefer the original.

As far as I am aware there are still problems with Vista's compatibility with some older hardware and software. The take up among corporates has been very slow for this reason. The Media Centre version just allows you to play DVD's without having to boot your computer all the way up into Windows.

If I was forced to buy another PC for home use I'd insist on XP (Dell and most others will allow you to downgrade if you insist hard enough), but as I love the MacBook I bought and as I play more with Linux on an old PC, I think that for home use in future it'll be a Microsoft-free future.

Mac,

Many thanks. I shoot lots of images, so I manage to get a few good ones by accident!

I expect the schenider has some sort of coating but whether it is the same as the Pentax smc, I doubt. This link only refers to "multi-coated", so could be coated with chocolate!

Not as far as I know.

I'm impressed that you should have gotten your eye in such sharp focus in a self portrait!

We could lobby this lot to start carrying Pentax stock (link at the bottom of the page)