I was a strong advocate of DPP but now find PSE better for the RAW conversion stage.

I have always loathed PSE for editing, not because I can't/haven't tried. I used to think DPP was OK for editing too & advocated it until I came to difficult landscape shots.

The Canon 350D is a very good entry level camera; D80 better all round, but so it should be being a slimmed down D200, more equivalent of 30D.

I now use Nikon capture NX for all editing and am pleased to find that once one has converted CR2 into something nearly 'ex-camera' that NX can open, it works fine for old Canon shots too. As indeed it does for even older Pana FZ7 shots.

The NX jargon perhaps ought to be in the NX thread, but for anyone interested it provides ways of adjusting both contrast and colour NOT using levels or curves. The LCH>master lightness is like a curve that can adjust the contrast gradient at different rates for different tonal ranges within an image more precisely than PS/CS>highlights/midtones/shadows; and without danger of unbalancing the colour if using R/G/B separately. Also IMO lessening need for HDR solutions.