Catherine, I started with that lens and still got some good pictures with it - even with the lens that I have (which is a 400mm lens) I have to get pretty close to the birds to get good detail. Have it ready at all times, you just never know when a bird is going to land right in front of you! And you have more pixels so affectively a longer lens than me as the images are larger. The zoombrowser is just for zooming in the picture. You will need software to crop the picture. I use Printshop but there are other software packages, such as Picture Manager that comes with Microsoft's office tools suite. The zoombrowser has some editing but I've not used it - when you are viewing the picture, go to the edit menu and use the trim function. You draw a box with the cursor by starting in the top left corner and dragging the mouse until you have the size you want and then click on trim. Unfortunately it doesn't have the capability to resize the photo which is nice to do if the photo is greater than 800 pixels. However I believe that photobucket will resize it for you. I also compress the size of the file (not the size of the picture) to make it load faster. There is some post processing that is expected with the digital SLR's - mainly sharpening the image. Most point-n-shoots do in-camera sharpening but the typical setup of the SLR's is to do some sharpening but the rest is done with software (the software typically does a better job). But you can change the setting in the camera to do more sharpening so you don't have to do it with software. Also, the contrast and hue saturation of the Rebels can be a bit off so sometimes it requires adjusting those too. But don't panic, start slow and learn one adjustment at a time. It sounds like alot of work but once you get the hang of it, it literally takes seconds to post process. I'm sure the pros take much longer than that tweaking details but not something I do. Let me know if you want more help - I didn't want to overwhelm you! And let me know if you have any software, there are a variety of software packages available that are reasonably priced or free.

I did some searches to see if anyone was hinting at a price somewhere but didn't find anything. I imagine a couple or three hundred dollars since it looks like it's designed to compete with Aperture which is around 299. I just really like the way it lays things out in the Library filmstrip and the way the workflow proceeds from left-to-right and top-to-bottom. I've never used any truly high-end program so I don't know how to compare it to anything else. (I don't even know if it would be in the "high-end" category. I do know that I like it better than the Photoshop I'm using now, which is also Adobe. I've been reading reviews online and some are from the earlier betas so they're not very flattering but they improve over time. I don't know; it's just that it's free right now and something to "play" with. MichaelAT

Jim I think both pictures look lovely--just depends on which you prefer I think. Nice to have that feature on your camera so you can choose. Where do you find us so many inspiration photos of tables? They are great! I have been saving pics out of my old magazines so I can scan them and share them here, but I'm going to need my DH to help me figure out where the heck they go when I scan them in! LOL I'm sure it is an easy answer, but he got me a Mac laptop this time, and I have to say I really miss my old computer--I had finally figured most things I needed out on it--this one is a bit different, and a computer guru I'm not! Luvs

A good way to get familar with MS Photo Editor is to try all its features - in other words, play around with it. You'll soon learn what it does. It's not that complicated. CAUTION: Do use procedures that preserve the origial image! Never, never overwite the original. Always save the edited image with a different name. I merely add a dash number to the original file name. For example, if the file was Dscn 1010, the first edit would be saved as Dscn 1010-2, the second edit as Dscn 1010-3, etc. Never edit a file stored in the camera memory chip. Any write to this chip from any source except the camera itself may buger the formatting. Most cameras use their own proprietary formatting scheme. They allocate space for the picture number, and the camera settings, then the image itself. Always copy the images from the memory chip to other media such as a hard drive, rewrittable CDROM, or a USB memory device. In most cases, only the image will copy over. Once you have a copy on your hard drive or other, you are ready to edit away. In this way, all undesireable edits can be deleted. If you should accidentally overwrite the copy of the original image, all is not lost since the origianl is still on the camera chip. However, why expose yourself to this 'klutzy' possibility? We all make unintended keystokes at times. Once copies of the original have been made, set these files as 'read only'. Now, they can not be overwritten. Once copies of the images are on your computer's storage device, you can manipulate these in many ways - and delete the trash results. One of the first things you may wish to do is to rename the files to meaningful names. The name length can be up to the limit of your system. One caution: If you plan to make copies of the finished results such as to a wrtie-once CDROM, watch the name length. Check your manuals. The maximun name length for write-once CDROM is approximately 63 characters. I suggest that the original file number assigned by the camera be kept for tracking purposes. A file named Dscn 901 by the camera might be renamed, Dscn 901 Daytona Beach. Subsequent edits become Dscn 901-2 Daytona Beach, Dscn 901-3 Daytona beach, etc. Have fun!!!