I think you'll find that "SIB" is an acronym for Systems Integration Board.
They are a "memory assembly" company - taking chips and packaging them into something tangible and useable... probably SD format

But I could be wrong...

Matt

I have tried both - and stuck to PSE.
Personally, I found it much faster at previewing than PSP, and in the end served me well as it provided a solid grounding when I had to move up to PS-CS for work
There's no end of tutorials etc for PSE (and many for PS that work on PSE).
But then, as George says, there's other packages out there too - you just have to try them.

And even if PSE3 or 4 deals with PEF files - get Capture One LE if you're serious

Each to his own

Matt

Thanks for opportunity of viewing the PEF file!
What's interesting is that Adobe CS2 and Capture One don't recognise the file!!
However, I just used a hex editor to change the two "*ist DL" strings in the header to "*ist DS" and guess what... it opened

So, I've run your image through Capture One LE and through my "Sharpen-O-Matic" in Photoshop.
Result is here: http://www.pbase.com/mattmatic/image/54628050/original

That's one nice sharp lens you have

Matt

Judging by the extent of the damage, I reckon it will be far cheaper to buy another
Even a "simple" repair with no signs of crack or damage is around £90 in the UK, from what I remember.
Matt

LOL!
There is something very "aaahh" about the Manfrottos
...or maybe I should get out more!
When I took this: http://www.ephotozine.com/gallery/showlargepic.cfm?photoid=333645 - there was a gale blowing. Had to borrow some of the hefty stones to stop the Velbon tripod blowing over... wish I'd had the Manfrotto then

Matt

Mac,
Can't agree more about the Manfrotto.

I picked up a mail-order return carbon fibre monopod with 484RC2 head - I was blown away! Incredibly light and extremely useful. Just can't believe how solid the thing is!

Have just recently added a Manfrotto carbon fibre tripod and that's a real gem too! Now just thinking about the 460MG head...

Regarding carrying - the monopod has a wrist strap that's quite good. The tripod can have a strap... might need to get one. Let me know what you end up deciding!

Matt

Mac,
I don't see it as a problem for the camera at all. Essentially all the PC socket does is to short the two pins together to fire the flash.

Most likey the SpII and SPF have no electronics at all - just a mechanical means to short the pins.

The only tiny little thing is if you have one of the ancient flash guns that have a high trigger voltage - that might pop the other connected guns. But, as far as I know it's only one of the really old Metz guns that did this. Most thyristor controlled flash guns have a very low trigger voltage.

I have seen little 4-way PC socket connectors to allow multiple connections, so it must be a "done thing".

...be interested to hear other views too

Matt

Oooooh

I'm jealous!
Let us know what the 12-24mm is like The least I can do is drool! LOL!
Matt

Only in Canon mount. A friend of mine has it, and I've seen some very good results indeed. I am going to try and get a better look at it myself Perhaps at a £300-ish price differential I can put up with a non-Pentax
Matt

Just to add some technical details:
AFAIK, the D-BG1 supply is connected to the camera supply by a diode. You see, you cannot just connect two battery packs together - they'll "fight" against each other. The diode means that the D-BG1 will effectively supply power to the camera only when the body's batteries are lower than the D-BG1 batteries.
In practise both batteries will go down together, but the diode "loses" some voltage (between 0.3 and 0.7V), so the camera sees the D-BG1 voltage as a little lower - hence the reduced capacity. When the camera says there's no power left, the D-BG1 batteries will actually have a little charge left (the bit that's "hidden" by the diode voltage drop). If you get really stuck, then putting the grip batteries in the body will provide a tiny amount more power.

Hope that helps (and doesn't make it all the more confusing!!)
Matt