For me, forget about "1st thing".. The last thing I'd want is a higher pixel count. What I would like to see is that more information is available to the guts of the camera's circuitry from the sensor in terms of light, focus, dynamic range, etc.

If I were to compare it to a computer's CPU, what I'd like to see initially is the earliest and most basic of Pentium/AMD chips being capable of running 64-bit Windows 8 (if that statement makes any kind of sense) in terms of information handling. The newer quad-core chips (in the case of a DSLR, the image processor) would be capable of what??...

Remember - the computers that sent NASA's first manned mission to the moon were probably no more powerful that a pocket calculator that you could buy for 50p these days!! I think "bang for buck" sums up what I'm trying to say here.

Of the 2 choices you listed, I'd have a tendency to opt for the Sammy. Mind you, I'm led to believe that there's a new incarnation of the Google Nexus about to launch (or has only just launched). I've also toyed with the idea of investing in a Kindle Fire HD, since it looks amazing too.

You have hit the nail on the head, John. The expression "if you wrap a pig in a pink ribbon, it's still a pig" springs to mind. I'm trying to move my approach away from firing off hundreds of the same images in the hope of getting one good shot, to something more akin to the good old days of film photography where you thought a bit more about what you were trying to achieve due to the cost of film, processing, etc. I used to be "serious" about my photography many years ago, but thanks to the weird hours I work, I don't get as much time to get back into the swing of things. Maybe if digital photography was around when I done most of my travelling I'd have a better knowledge of how to use a DSLR, as I never travelled overseas without a camera, be it the little Vivitar compact, or the Pentax SFX, or even buying a Kodak disposable from the airside shops at Heathrow!!

Doesn't the smell of hot coffee drive you crazy though, John??

I take your point - There's a good and bad side to everything. I just feel that (from a purely personal perspective) I'm not really learning anything about myself in a photographic sense if I choose to adopt the "shoot first - ask questions later" approach.

Steve - in terms of contrast, for me, No.2 looks about right (although there's no distinctive subject matter to focus on), but shot 4 would "work" with that adjustment. The final piccy maybe needs a bit more colour "injected" into it (and perhaps a slightly closer crop?)...

Thast said - I understand the difficulties of such an event, having spent both Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday at the Notting Hill Carnival, trying to capture similar images! Can't complain though - I've had several "hits" on my Flickr page in the past 3-4 days!!

Not so sure that any photo editing suite is "worthwhile" (I'm going to get "controversial" here...) - surely the whole ethos of photography is to get the "best" image "in-camera", and only use these prog's to "tweak" the image. The downside to digital photography is that we can fire off 1,000,000 shots just to get that one image that makes the statement we were aiming for, whilst disposing of the other 999.999 "wasted" shots. Don't get me wrong - in photographic terms, I'm doing the "doggy-paddle" at the shallow end of the pool, whilst a lot of the members here are at the other end of the pool - some training for the Olympics, so to speak. In a perverse way, I like to make mistakes with my photography, study the images, then think about how/what I have to do to improve them. Software permits us to adjust colour, light, shadows, highlights, focus, chromatic abberation, etc - but are we (newbies/post-film photographers) truly learning anything?

Jamie - glad you enjoyed!!

Did you get the "cold tingling" down your spine at the Genbaku Dome too? I'm sure you'll have also taken the short walk to the epicentre of the blast too - at the bridges... Quite a sobering experience!

I'm 100% certain that these aren't your "best" shots taken in Japan, so get the goodies loaded, mon!!

I've read that the Sony Experia-Z has picture quality equivalent to an HD (1080) 50" tv!! I'm going to take a look at one, and then get it brought in from Thailand, as the tech out there is generally a bit cheaper. The wife looked at the iPod Touch 16Gb (latest model) on Apple's Thailand site, where it was priced around £75 cheaper than the exact same model here in the UK!!

David - my eyes are a bit wonky at the best of times, so it was hard to tell through the viewfinder. I'll try running it through DXO Optics Pro, and see if that will help in any way. Thanks for the feedback though!

Some shots I took today at the annual parade. They're "as-is", as I have just uploaded them to the pc, and will make adjustments later. C & C welcome.