Personally I use Premier Elements (came bundled with Photoshop Elements). Not bad - a decent range of editing options and transitions.
Matt

Nathan - whether you get noise is dependent on what you're taking. I have shots that just cannot be pushed from one RAW - the shadows posterise like crazy. In that case multiple exposures is the only option.

Of course, you can do it the "old" way and take two shots then manually combine them in Photoshop with blend masks.

It really just depends what you're trying to achieve! All the methods are good ones - just not valid in every situation

Matt

Nearly forgot...

You must have the camera in Av mode, or use M - the aperture must not change! You should only adjust the shutter speed between exposures (otherwise you get ghosting and/or a lack of clarity).

Of course, use a tripod.

If you use the autobracket function of the K10D/K20D then you can use Av and matrix metering as the camera only takes one exposure reading at the beginning

Matt

Because 1 RAW shot will have a dynamic range of about 7 stops maximum (that's in the RAW file itself). That's not enough for difficult situations. You still need multiple RAW files.
Added to that, when you push a RAW file too hard you rake up a pile of crud from the noise floor that's present

My take is this: 5 shots, 2Ev apart (K10D is ideal as it can do it automatically). Shoot in RAW, process the middle shot - get the colour, white balance etc right, but leave alone exposure, contrast, etc. Then duplicate the settings to the other 4. Export as 16-bit TIFF preferably and then merge in an HDR app and tone map.

Not difficult, not complicated - just needs a shed load of RAM
Matt

I use Av mode with Auto ISO.
However, I have programmed the front wheel to be ISO - rotating the finger wheel will fix the ISO, and pressing the green will set it back to Auto.
In that mode the viewfinder shows Av, Tv, and ISO

Takes a little getting used to (reading three values at once) but it works for me!
Matt

It depends...
That's a total distance of about 5.4 meters.
But, it depends on (a) your ISO, (b) your f-stop, (c) the ambient light, as to how much light is actually needed.

Additionally, the Pentax metering tends to expose to maintain the highlights. This is generally a good thing - except where there are highly reflective surfaces. On the K10D at least, the "TAv" mode tends to expose the flash for a general exposure, rather than maintaining the highlights.

Personally, I find the better indoor approach is as follows:
* Use "M" on the camera
* With the flash off, press the Green button to get an exposure
* Adjust the ISO, shutter speed, and aperture so you are around 1-stop to 2-stops underexposed on the meter graph. Obviously, you're aiming for a sensible shutter speed primarily
* Now turn on the flash with TTL and shoot.

You should get perfect shots, with some of the ambient light shining through (rather than overly harsh flash). This method works a treat when using a large bounce card on the flash, with the flash pointing straight up. (See abetterbouncecard.com and make your own!)

Matt

It depends what's important in the shot If you want the latitude to have most of the shot well exposed, then use the camera's recommended setting (most of the time).

If you don't mind completely losing the highlights for a shot (and this is where the "blinking red" warning is helpful on the camera), then by all means adjust the compensation - you will get slightly less noise in the area that you want.

However, as a few have mentioned, maybe you should look at a different RAW converter? They are not all the same! For example, I find that Silkypix gives a consistently smooth output with far fewer artifacts (especially noise impulse artifacts) - there is even a free version. Some like BibblePro which has NoiseNinja built in.
Alternatively, if the shadow noise bothers you, you could also invest in a plug-in like NeatImage.

As mentioned, there will always be some noise from the CCD - irrespective of your exposure settings - so looking at the processing side might be a better option.

That said, the noise you have shown in the sample images is, to me at least, perfectly acceptable. (As I said, taking a look at a scanned-slide will soon put things in perspective!!)

Matt

The adjustment in microns is with regard to the sensor, not the lens And it will be with regard to the AF-sensor, not the CCD too (though with the CCD effectively fixed that amounts to pretty much the same thing).

Matt

Normally, when you have serious underexposure with bounce, but not with direct flash, then the bounce distance is too far.

The flash-to-subject distance is not the camera-to-subject distance, but the route from flash-to-ceiling-to-subject.

Check the flash confirmation light in the viewfinder as a start...
(Or you can roughly guess if the flash is fully discharging with a "pop" and takes a full recycle time for the ready light)
Matt

Just a guess... could be partly to do with colouration of the lens - the AF mech is known to focus differently in low level tungsten light (ie mainly red wavelength light). I also reckon that the ratio of body motor-to-lens-adjustment may have something to do with it as well. I presume the lens ID enables the body to work out the focus travel for a particular lens (which may explain why some third party lenses mess up - I've seen them "pretend" to be a Pentax lens which isn't even close).

Just some thoughts... will try my focus some time...
Matt