Thanks for the reply Ed, yeah i figured the secret is in the HDRI maps. I was playing until 3am this morning and concluded the extra light materials are about as much use as a chocolate spanner, so i am now scouring the web for free HDRI apps and tools. Keyshot is the "studio" and that's where the mental retardation comes in, get your head round that and you have it sussed. I just might have to invest in a camera that supports RAW format now - lol ... This game is getting too expensive. Now where's the manual to my SL240, I wonder if it can do RAW, but there again multi shots at different exposure rates are supposedly able to be combined into a HDRI image .....

Martin