When I joined the forum the conventional wisdom seemed to be that 'you are going to end up needing to use Photoshop, so might as well start now'.

I admit I have not got/used CS3, don't even think my computer would run it and anyway would rather put the cash to a new computer first. Did use PSE4 (cheapo CS2) for a while with FZ7 and later following DPP with CR2 from 350D as a host for FocusMagic and NeatImage and with curves plug-in.

Instinct led me to getting a Nikon (D80) and Nikon Capture NX and I find the combination superb and meeting 99% of my needs. (They do not include HDR, artificising). NX costs about £100 & free 30 day Trial (tho can be cheaper on e-bay, but do only buy correct regional version - see NX thread).

Most of the NX tools work on .jpg or .tif files and likewise if you need the other 1% it transfers elsewhere as .tif. They also work on whole or only part of the image and in combination using 'steps' which I find much easier to manage than 'layers'. For example you can convert to B&W with a blue filter on near-blown parts of an image and orange on the rest.

Resulting saved files can be in .NEF format which includes all the 'steps' open for re-edits using a minute fraction of memory required for .psd.