Thanks guys, I've chosen 1 & 4 for the gallery, good wide views. Lets hope we're going to be seeing plenty of Autumny Sunshine shots too this year!

Mike, the contrast boost has been good, maybe try a bit less. Then go for the 'shadows / highlights' dialogue (assuming you've got Photoshop or Elements), which stuey has shown.

The colours can be dealt with in the 'Hue / Saturation' dialogue, using the dropdown selector to choose each colour channel separately.

It can seem like a bit of a chore, but I get the feeling most people here rather enjoy the process of 'tweaking' their shots, it can be very rewarding. I personally think that it is a necessity rather than a choice, as I don't think we get the best out of the camera, at least not for every type of situation.

Try opening your shots with this viewer program (after converting from RAW). link This Fullscreen Photo Viewer is very quick and displays images in high quality and nicely sharp.

When converting from RAW you could apply a little sharpness to make sure it is not just inherent softness.

This looks a great spot Mike - it reminds a bit of the Elan Valley in mid Wales where there are also a number of dams.

I like the compositions and viewpoints of every one, very nicely picked out. You've chosen to shoot in very challenging circumstances dynamic range-wise - in the first three the metering is for the bright water and sky mainly, so I find the shadows too deep, but I'm sure they could be pulled up successfully in software, with maybe a boost to yellow and red saturation also?

4 & 5 are well balanced exposure wise, lovely peaceful evocations of the place. I can see some magenta and cyan tones coming through, I wonder if the water and shadows would look more realistic if you reduced these colour channels, with a bit of red yellow & green boost also?

I spent some time in Mr Cads in Croydon a few weeks back, and they had a fair number of Chinons, all in reasonable looking condition. I kept asking about them but I couldn't get one positive comment out of the shop guys (all older men who've been in the business for donkeys) - they wouldn't recommend any of them.

They did offer some praise for a Tamron Adaptall 135mm f2.8, which I did buy ( and they recommended the range in general). So far I'm happy with the way the lens works, it packs a real punch for the money, but I don't have any scientific comparisons to hand.

Its hard to know if there is just a lot of snobbery out there about certain brands based on on their original marketing?

Here's four shots taken this August on the family trip down to Devon. I suffer from Dad with a Camera syndrome when on holiday (a common enough complaint I think), so that's my main excuse if unable to get many decent scenics. But thats made up for with a brilliant camera and lens, and high quality software to process the shots back at home!

Any thoughts gratefully received. The first is an HDR of 5 brackets - I firstly only wanted to get detail in all areas, but then I was seduced by the 'lighting effects' modes in Photmatix Pro, as I thought they worked rather nicely here.

The others are straight shots, but I've tried to reproduce the intensity of light and depth of colour that is a feature in this beautiful part of Britain. Locations : 1) Killerton Garden nr Exeter, 2) Torquay, 3&4) Brixham

K7 with 18-55 (WR), wide end at f8 or so. Processed in PCU 4, Sagelight 4, & PS Elements 8.

Thanks everyone, I appreciate all the informative comments - there is a lot of stuff here I wasn't aware of, so I'll start checking out some of the options mentioned.I do like the idea of having a form of data integrity / verification of a backup.

I wonder if you could try some HDR for this? Say 5 shots, exposed for the blacks, through to the brightest lights? Again, it may not look that realistic, but might provide the information that is needed. I'd suggest the Fusion method in Photomatix as a good bet.

I wish it was possible to be more positive about what you might achieve with a great Pentax camera, but there are limitations!

I think the reality is that this type of scene is going to challenge the dynamic range of even the highest end camera, at least if the aim is to reproduce a kind of 'what the eye can see' image. With film you could meter for a mid range tone at night, and let any hot spot highlights (such as bright lights) burn out somewhat, which was often an attractive effect.

On digital if you want to see anything realistic of the lights, you'll have to meter close to them, rendering large parts of the scene as pitch black. This might be OK in a creative sense, but I think it is unlikely to look anything like what our human eyes would see, or what the 'customer' ordered. Its a tough one!

Undoubtedly now it is great value. Adobe customers are also very well served by the 'aftermarket' supply of guidebooks to help in getting the most out it their photo products. Walk into any Waterstones and you'll find many volumes on Lightroom, PS & Elements. I look in vain for something (even a little leaflet would be welcome!) on my Sagelight editor or iMatch image manager

I have fallen so in love with iMatch (can't imagine working on photos without it now), that I am loath to try Lightroom - I am worried it's going to hyjack my laptop for hours indexing and thumbnailing 10,000 photos and asking me to tag them all and give names to every face

But if anyone's up to my 'Photo Processing Shootout' challenge, just let me know and I'll take on allcomers!

Maybe there's a way to disable this before running it?