I know Mike, hence my suggestions

My post was intended as a damage limitation exercise (if you get my drift).

The primary aim when taking most photo's is to achieve a sharp and properly exposed image.

The three variables you can adjust to achieve that are, aperture (the size of the hole in the lens), shutter speed (adjusts the amount of time that the sensor is exposed to the light you are allowing in by your aperture selection), and sensitivity (ISO).

The aperture setting not only changes the amount of light you allow through the lens, but also the depth of field, or DOF. That is, how much of your subject is in focus from front to back.

In low light conditions you can't always achieve this primary goal by adjusting only the aperture and shutter speed settings because there simply is not enough light to get a properly exposed image. You can then choose to increase the sensor's sensitivity to light by increasing the ISO setting.

Beware though, increasing the ISO too much will introduce noise into the image in much the same way as high ISO film exhibits a grain effect. Most image processing software has noise reduction capabilities so don't worry about that for now. You'll know what noise is when you see it, particularly in the darker shadowy areas of an image.

I hope that's not too basic for you.

Well done, now . . .

Just about every question that you are likely to have, and you'll have plenty, has probably already been asked here, and answered.

The search facility on this site will probably provide all the answers you need. It's best used after having read the camera's instruction manual from cover to cover, . . . twice, and then referred to if you can't make something work.

A number of first steps:-

1: Check and update the firmware if necessary.
2: Do a factory default so that you start at the same place we all started before making any menu changes.
3: Read the manual again.
4: Now find the custom menu option #36 that allows the use of the aperture ring on manual lenses, and set it to "Permitted". That'll avoid one question later.
5: Set the focus point selector to 'Centre Point' (fully clockwise - extreme right most option) and for now, focus your images at the centre point, and re-compose the shot. You can play with the other settings later.
6: Don't use the 'Spot metering' option yet, unless you know how to use it properly. Instead, use either of the other two options for metering.
7: Before fitting a lens, adjust the dioptre setting correctly. Leave the body cap on if it's one of the translucent shipping caps and point the camera at a bright light source other than the sun. Adjust the dioptre setting so that the framing lines on the focussing screen are tack sharp.
8: Fit a lens, you're good to go. Enjoy your new friend.

It's certainly worth trying, but many night-time images contain watery reflections and often, these reflections are the feature of the image so it doesn't make much sense to try and remove them.

Head, wall, and much banging against springs to mind.

It'll never happen here.

It sony make believe.

Have you sold or licensed any images yet?

Are you sure its not a tilt 'n shift model?

If we assume the police service are not issued with Macs, moving a file from one storage location to another involves a copy (to the new location) and a delete (from the old location. Deleted files are easily recovered if the file system (card) is not written to again.

Bernhard, I think you are the pawn in a bigger game here.

Well I am 158 years old