Thanks to everyone who helped me out with this one.

After my weekend away in York I downloaded Irfanview, and that allows me to view all the DNG files without any problems. So I can pretty much rule out the files being corrupt - perhaps, as Gwyn mentioned, the DNG format changes subtley over time? (Though I still can't explain why I could open some files in Silkypix but not others.)

I was planning to upgrade to the Pro version of Silkypix anyhow, though I might wait until the K5 PEF files are supported. Knowing Silkypix it shouldn't be too long...

Thanks again,

Jonathan

Thanks for those suggestions. I'm away for the weekend, but when I get back I'll try downloading another RAW converter that'll view DNGs and give that a go.

Jonathan

Thanks for your comments. Yes, it's got me stumped! I knew it wouldn't recognise PEFs, hence I chose to shoot DNGs (this is what I did when I first got my K20D, before Silkypix was updated, & in that case it worked fine). What's got me really confused it that I can view some of the images...

I've just been trying to open images from the K5 in Silkypix (version 3). Strangely enough, I can see thumbnails of all the files, but I can only open a few of them. All the files were recorded as DNG RAW files, and I'm a bit confused as to why I can only view some of them - has anyone got any ideas?

Thanks for any help,

Jonathan

If you've got access to Curves controls (I presume these are available in Lightroom?) then I find that a gentle S-curve on the red channel and an inverse S-curve on the blue channel gives a decent cross-processed look. Vary the curves to taste, but I've found that you have to be quite subtle (the cross-process Taste in Silkypix is horribly OTT, for example, but thankfully you can save your own versions).

Jonathan

My cameras are usually set to ISO 400 (I don't shoot stock, but otherwise I can see no reason to go below this, having made A2 prints at ISO 400). For daytime shots my aperture is usually f/5.6 as a starting point, and I'm nearly always in Aperture Priority (except if using flash - then it's manual). WB is usually left on daylight.

I use centre weighted metering, and centre-point AF from the rear button (though at close focusing distances sometimes change to a different AF point, so as not to introduce focusing errors by recomposing).

My second default is the same as the above, except with the ISO at 1600 & WB on Tungsten, for low light indoor pictures.

Jonathan

Fantastic cake! Happy Birthday - have a Lion beer on me!

Jonathan

Thanks for the clarification, Gwyn - it was only a guess, but at least they're related!!!

Jonathan

There are several people on this forum that I'd have no problem classifying in the exceptional level of knowledge category. I feel that a lot of people are being too modest here. Nobody putting themselves in the top category is saying that they have nothing more to learn. (Bear in mind that most good professionals in certain sectors spend a lot of money each year on training. And that a good wildlife photographer is not necessarily going to be a good wedding photographer etc.)

And, on the other hand, it wouldn't be difficult to gain a decent understanding of photographic technology & techniques (e.g. by reading AP for a year) without having lifted a camera in anger...

Jonathan

On the topic of beer names, I'm currently reading a book about (the decline of) bees, and beforehand I never knew what a waggle dance was. If you don't know, look it up on Wikipedia - bees are very clever creatures...

And I might be wrong, but I presume Brakespear is named after the only British Pope?

Any other beer names with interesting meanings (apart from the one that polchraine mentioned a while ago - perhaps not one to look up on the internet)?

Jonathan