I have Photoshop CS5, LightRoom 3.5, Bridge, and a few others for processing. HOWEVER, I use Irfanview for all my photo viewing. It works faster and better for viewing any format including raw. It has a very easy to use slide show that lets me set up a pile of pics that I just shot and allow others to view on the laptop within minutes of taking the photos.

It is the photo viewing program that I have set up as default for all my pics. I double click on a photo in explorer and it shows up instantly in Irfanview. Double click on the photo in the Irfanview window and it becomes a viewer that moves forward with a single right click or reverse with a single left click. It automatically sizes the photos for full view on the screen.

By the way, this program is FREE. Just search for it and also get the plugins and it will do it all. It also has most of the common editing functions (resizing, cropping, color balance, contrast, brightness, format changing, well you get the idea, there are many more)

Click on the word 'Reply' below the post. Don't use the 'Quick Reply'. There will be a section below the area for typing your text that is labeled 'File/picture attachments:'. There you can click on the 'Browse' button and select a photo from your hard drive to load to the UHH site. If you also click the selection box next to the words '(store original)', it will send a full sized photo as well as the thumnail that will appear with your post.

The problem is less the temperature than it is the humidity. Changing the lens outside in dry air should be no serious problem. Taking the camera back in and changing the lens indoors will be a problem unless you wait until the interior of the camera warms to room temps. As long as the equipment is at the same temp or warmer than the air where you are swapping the lens, there should be no problem.

When you bring a cold camera indoors, it will fog up exposed outer areas. Don't try to wipe the condensation off. Just wait until it evaporates on its own. This may take ten to twenty minutes, but that's the price you pay for moving from one area to another.

I used my Nikon 14-24 yesterday in 7 degree air and that is a BIG piece of glass on the front. When I returned to a 70 degree room, it took a full twenty minutes before I could use it again.

From the highlights on the first shot, it appears that you used a flash on camera. Try without flash and use two lights at 45 degree angles from either side of the art. You will have to correct for white balance or you can use a couple of 5500 kelvin compact flourescent bulbs (available at Wal-Mart). Distance from the art can be adjusted to control light 'hotspots'. Also use a tripod for the longer shutter speed with the lowered light values.

The protocols for storing information are different for PC's and cameras. The computer has to have drivers installed for your camera model to even read the card generated by that camera. These drivers are 'one way'. That means the computer uses them to read the data, but cannot use them to write back to the card. When writing to the card it will use its own protocols. The camera has software in it that is designed to read only its own protocol and can't take drivers to read the computer stored data on the card.

I am sure all of you are familiar with the idea of 'drivers'. You have to install software drivers for any equipment attached to the computer, and every model of that equipment needs a different driver. Printers, scanners, cameras, all need drivers for the computer to use them.

I definitely don't want to offend, but in order to inform, I must contradict this statment. RAW is a set of data from the sensor from which you can build an image. It does NOT have a JPG or any other image imbedded in it. You can take a pile of lumber and build a house, but you would not say that there is a house imbedded in the pile of lumber and once I move the excess away you'll see the house.

In the 'RAW is like a negative' illustrations, we also may be misleading newcomers. In a negative, you can see an inverse image. RAW is used like the negative to generate images, but unlike the negative, there is no RAW image whether inverse or any other fashion and has nothing to view.

The camera does create a jpg for the viewscreen each time you want the see the image on the back of the camera. It may or may not store this jpg, depending on the storage settings that the user sets.

Just trying to be kind in my rebuttal without creating offense.

I have hundreds of giga bytes stored with Carbonite, along with data and program files. Two gig won't hold a single day's shooting for me (one shot takes 25+- megs in my camera. I can pull copies down from anywhere I get Wi-Fi (motels, cofffe shops, libraries, etc.).

Have you consided getting better lenses instead of a body that will still be limited by the kit lens? It depends on the type of photos you want to take, but a low light wide lens will help you more than the body.

Any that fit the camera and your budget. Actually, the lens is more important than the body (within a few limitations) so get as good quality and large aperture as you can. You can upgrade the body later and the lens will carry over to it. Tokina and Sigma may be where you want to go. Below 14mm will work for landscapes. For group pictures, you will find 14mm to 20mm to be better. Too low focal lengths begin to distort faces and body shapes.

Check for filter ring adaptors that are used to attach one sized filter to different sized lenses. You may not stay with this rig long, but it should not cost too much to get a ring and play with it for a while.

I am not sure about all the rest (but suspect it to be) that when I mention 'handheld' it is to apologize for some of the softness. I don't always have, can't get to it quickly, in a poor area for, or otherwise not able to shoot this one with a tripod. I have 5 of those things and use them when appropriate. Again, there is no pride in my handheld, just an excuse why this shot may not be its best.

Larry, you claim to be adverse to paying more for the lens than the camera. Sorry, but that's the only way to the best images. I have always found the lens to be more important than the camera. I have a few bodies that run from $1000 to $1500 and I would like one that costs five times that much, but the higher priced camera would only have more features, bells and whistles, without being able to take a better image because of the restriction of the glass.

I also have the Tamron 200-500 zoom and find it to be an exceptional lens for the price (less than a thousand). See, I do have some lenses that cost less than the camera, but my best ones are double or more than the body (and I can tell the difference in the image.)

I got quite unhappy about some of the C&C responces about this rule. It is not a "made up" rule that we are requested or forced to follow. It, however, is actually an observation of human responce and behavior. We did not choose to make this rule, but the human brain is more attracted to visual representations that are sectioned this way. If a photo is interesting enough, it does not need to be 'enhanced' by using this rule to get the attention of the viewer. An image that is just 'so-so' or barely there can be improved through rule of thirds composition.

It is not a rule that must be followed, it is just an option. We can use the knowledge of how our brains respond to images and use that knowledge to compose our photos.

Your camera produces an image that is 3,872 x 2,592 pixels. This is therefore a 10 maga pixel picture. A raw file will report this data in a file that will be larger than 10megs in size.

However, jpg is a compressed file representing the full sized image in a file that could easily be 4 megs in size.

Now, we need to know. You are saying that you only get '4mp' out of your camera. Is this file size or is it pixel count on the image. Check the properties on your image and determine if it is indeed a 10 meg image.

I use Carbonite without any problems. Carbonite only backs up the folders that you have specified. I select all my folders. If you generated a new folder for your pictures without selecting it for Carbonite backup, you could potentially lose those. If you create a new folder inside a Carbonite selected folder then it gets backed up.