I was thinking the same thing Mattmatic is.
The camera bodies' reflexes are too fast for the the older mechanical lenses.
would "fixing" that one problem create newer problems...like slowing down the camera even when newer lenses are attached?

George said:
Common George...you'd prefer the Clinton administration?
You know, the Prezedential Administration that will alsways be refered to as " the delightful, little sex romp, between the Bushes?"

my two cents:

doing your own printing....whenever possible is worth it if you've profiled your system, print often, and don't like the Idea that someone else can: make a copy of your work, track everything you own (camera, lenses, etc mined from the exif data in your memory cards/exif data.) as well as collect info about your volume of business.....etc.

the inks from the manufacturer are expensive, but using other brands introduces more variables that could have/cause problems.

I'd compare home printing to that of getting a custom pro lab print on film.
costs more, but worth it.

sorry to not get to this sooner....
get on VersionTtracker,
http://www.versiontracker.com/macosx/
look-up seashore
it is a gimp based photo editor.
it is free.
It should be able to do some editing (I don't use it)
then there's the gimp, it should have similar noise reduction controls as photoshop elements, and possibly even a plug-in to help you out.
in all honesty, I think photoshop elements will work (with the already mentioneed plug-ins (noise ninja, kodak digital rock/ice/gem etc))
but the built-in tools should be helpful if you apply them right.

did you try Mattmatic's Sharpening technique in photoshop? try that one for comparison....or silkypix...or aperture's edge sharpening....on a raw file.

Time to learn a new skill.
Shooting several images to stiched together in photoshop yeilds much better results than cropping the top and bottom off a standard shot.
failing that, it simply a matter of learning to visualize where you intend to crop the final image.

when scanning, try to do as many corrections with your scanning software as possible BEFORE clicking the scan button! (kinda the same argument as getting it right in camera!)
you're welcome and good luck!

hypothetically, getting it right in camera, saves s!&^%loads of time in post.
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but to really answer your question, if I was to hypothetically botch something and need to rescue it in post, I'd go this route:

Fix whatever is worst in an adjustment layer....

then go:

levels/curves (set black and white points)
color
noise
touch-ups
sharpening.

I like
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if=internal focus..you are right.
I have the pentax 28-200 and it's fabulous.
It is a great match to my ds2.
if you were a velvia shooter usinge primes you'd notice the limits of the lens as far as sharpness is concerned, but you'd not be able to tell it from a prime using 400 speed film.