Going back to the OP - Silkypix has a control for banding noise reduction. It's termed "Geometric NR"
I've seen a LOT worse on other cameras
Matt

Thanks Chris

Chris - this is called a "Clipping Mask"
Details on my website for PSE
Matt

No problem Peter.
It's almost certainly all done for you. Check out these links:
http://www.suodenjoki.dk/us/archive/2008/extract-exif.htm (with Javascript)
http://www.br-software.com/extracter.html (extracts info to CSV file)
http://sourceforge.net/projects/libexif (developer library)
http://www.instituteofthefuture.org/exifomatic/ (Java one)
http://www.kuren.org/exif/ (C++ source code)

That should get you started
Others are listed here.

Have fun!
Matt

PS. Or in true Pentax LBA style... just buy the lens!

Pentax are reasonable folk
If you have the original receipt there's no problemo
(They confirmed this when I phoned and asked whether a warranty would be covered on second hand equipment... if the original receipt, or copy of, was provided then Pentax would honour the 1 year warranty. At least that's what they said to me )
Matt

The best thing is to download PhotoME
http://www.photome.de/download_en.html

It displays _everything_ inside the EXIF (including camera temperature and serial number!!). AFAIK the data files it uses are XML format - so you can unpick it.

You'll have fun reading EXIF tags - there are such a huge number!
There are also plenty of freeware tools and libraries for EXIF reading anyway - so do a Google before you start coding

Hope that helps!
Matt

Yes, PSE has layers (definitely since v2). There are ways of adding Layer Masks to PSE
www.hiddenelements.com had a neat free plugin that added a layer mask.

Alternatively you can use a technique called "Clipping Masks" with PSE. I've detailed the procedure on my website: http://www.photon.me.uk/PSE/PaintingPSE.htm

See here as well: http://www.photon.me.uk/PS/ps_layers_tutorial_1.htm


Matt

Check out the comments
Most reckon it was fake...
Fun though!
Matt

EDIT: Aldoose, English Lesson 2: "facetious"

Terry - though £300 to £320 is the current rate on that e-website
Matt

James,
You can download the free version of Silkypix and give it a try.
Or, download the trial version
There are two considerations - workflow and image quality. Not everyone likes the workflow of SP, but I haven't found anything that matches the image quality (especially the level of control over colour).

There's a new version due sometime... the Japanese beta is out now (waiting on English version).
Personally I use SP-DS3 for 90% of all editing. Anything that needs creative input will get the Photoshop treatment.

So, I would say that Photoshop Elements makes a good additional package
Matt