The one thing that used to be missing from Photoshop Elements that I used to use routinely was Channel Mixer. Is that is version 8?

When I referred to 99% of what you need I was only making the point that it isn't a full version of photoshop. Some professionals will need the full thing, as will businesses involved in publishing, but amateur photographers don't use many of the features as they have no purpose in general photography.

The most versatile tool IMHO is Photoshop. It's not necessary to invest hundreds of pounds in CS4 though, as for 99% of purposes £55 or so on Elements would be very satisfactory.

Most of us only use a fraction of the capability that's in Photoshop anyway, but it is the industry standard.

Well I shoot almost always in JPEG, and it's not for the reason stated above.

Firstly, the premium Quality JPEG of the K20D is absolutely good enough to make very fine A3 prints.

Secondly, JPEG files are compatible across a full range of programs and computers with no messing about. Some image libraries demand JPEG files in any event.

So I'll reverse the logic for you and suggest that there's no point not shooting in JPEG unless special requirements suggest that a RAW capture is necessary. Why waste the space and time with the larger files?

You get condensation when going from cold to warm too suddenly, such as entering a tropical greenhouse.

Going from the house outdoors should be fine.

Just point the camera at the grey card, excluding all else from the view, and take a reading. Make sure of course that the light falling on the grey card is the same as the light falling on the subject.

For most subjects this won't be necessary though as the camera meter is quite accurate on its own. You can apply compensation using the exposure compensation dial that sits round the rewind crank.

Welcome to the forum!

These lenses are not that old yet - is it still under a 2 year warranty?

In any event a lens should last longer than it could possibly be old, so under EU and UK legislation there could be some mileage in claiming a warranty repair regardless.

It's a difficult thing to explain how an ID card is an invasion of privacy, as in UK terms it violates the basic principle that all citizens are free to move around and do anything they like that is not actually proscibed by law. This is not so in many countries.

So ID cards were abolished in the early 1950s (they existed during WWII) as soon as they could be. They offended the British way of life. The other huge invasion of privacy was means testing for benefits, introduced as a way of making sure than no one suffered poverty. The means testing though was seen as demeaning, again contrary to the UK mindset.

Whether or not the current and future generations will se this in the same way is another matter altogether, so we shall have to wait and see.

There is the pre-flash to worry about when we use the pop-up flash, but if you go for the Interfit kit you can select whether the flash goes off on the first, second or third trigger flash. Problem solved.

However, I still use the IR trigger as it makes no possible contribution to the exposure.

The thin end of the wedge. Once allowed one bit of invasion of privacy then beaurocracy doesn't want to stop. Individual freedom is supressed.

It's a matter of personal privacy Stefan. In the Uk the mind-set is that our own business is our own and as long as we're not breaking any laws or hurting anyone then it's nobody else's business.

The phrase might be "An Englishman's home is his castle" meaning that behind those private doors it is nothing to do with the state.

Is there no feeling like this is your country?