Whoa, take a chill pill. I am sorry if you are offended by well-meaning, well-reasoned and accurate responses to legitimate queries posted on this list.

Who is counting pixels my friend? Just pointing out that there are plenty of situations where a large sensor AND high quality glass along with a fast and accurate auto-focus system and a high burst rate will make the difference between a good shot or no shot, especially in low light without flash or fast action situations. Bridge cameras are great in many situations, but how many pros do you see shooting weddings or sporting events with a $400 megazoom?

The answer is Yes, to a certain degree. However, "excellent photographic capabilities and sharpness" will never be as good as with a DSLR due to sensor size and physics. Bridge cameras have small sensors, meaning very small pixels. Very small pixels means that light sensitivity, noise, and diffraction (see below) will be factors that will limit the capability of the camera, especially in low light conditions. I have taken many good pictures with my SX30is (and I love the megazoom) but the image quality will never be as good as what I can achieve with my 60D, especially in low light conditions. Because of the small sensor on bridge cameras the light path will be narrower meaning fewer photons striking each pixel (lower light sensitivity and noise) and greater diffraction effects. With a narrow light path a greater percentage of the light entering the camera will be in close proximity to the edges of the diaphragm (the opening that controls the F-stop). This will cause those light rays to bend slightly (physics) affecting the sharpness. This is why cameras with small sensors can only be stopped down to around f/8 before diffraction ruins the image quality. My SX30is shoots great pics at f/5.6 but there is noticeable diffraction effects at f/8. My 60D can stop down to f/25 before you begin to notice diffraction effects. Bridge cameras shoot nice pictures under good lighting conditions but DSLRs will allow you to capture good images under less than ideal conditions.

This is a good site
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/

That is what I am basically looking for. Quick, but effective functionality in the plugins that will be faster that what I can do in other programs. Speeding up the workflow AND being happy with the results.

95% of my processing is done in Aperture 3, with portrait shots taking a pass through Portrait Professional for some modest touch ups. Occasionally I will use Photoshop CS5 Extended for something that needs major surgery. That being said I am interested in what all of you Aperture/Lightroom users think about the benefits of NIK plugins. I am particularly interested in Viveza but the other members of the suite look interesting as well. Is the juice worth the squeeze? Thanks for you thoughts.

... and here are a couple of landscapes

Sorry, forgot to check the store original box. Here they are again.

Here are three close ups from a recent trip to AZ using the 24-105 F/4 L on my 60D.

I would call that a "stuck" or "hot" pixel. On Canon DLSRs you can put them into the manual sensor cleaning mode for 30 sec or so and the pixels get remapped when you restore the camera to normal operation. You don't need to actually take the lens off and expose the sensor. This solves the hot pixel problem very nicely. Not sure about other makes.

I also had one that came as a kit lens with my 60D. Images were good and crisp as others have reported but the build quality is noticeably cheap. The image stabilization worked very well. It will serve you well if you don't mistreat it. Keep it out of bad weather and dust as it is not sealed. There is noticeable barrel distortion at 18 mm. Also, it does not have manual focus override (in other words you must turn off the auto focus switch in order to turn the manual focus ring without grinding gears). It is basically a case of you get what you pay for; in this case reasonably good optics in a not so great package. It is a very good lens for the low price.

For what it's worth I traded my 18-135 in and upgraded to two pieces of L glass (24-105 F/4 L IS and 70-200 F/2.8 L IS II) while emptying the bank account in the process. I am now addicted to L glass. The color, contrast, and clarity of the images I get with these lenses is superb. Well worth the upgrade when financially feasible.

Thank you very much Terry. I appreciate the feedback.

Hahahahahah!! What are you smoking Brucej? :-)

Canon make their own sensors. Nikon bodies contain Sony sensors.

Grotto Falls near Bozeman, MT