Getting lost with sharpening

[Cr8tor]

I have been reading all the info i can find about sharpening and i think im getting lost.
I was hoping someone may be able to push me in a direction to get this working and started playing around myself. I only have the software that came with my XT and can not afford to purchase any additional software at this time. I have seen some suggestions for free software but havent really been able to find anything i can get firgured out.

can someone give me some pointers on using the software that came with the camera or perhaps suggest some free software?

Hoping to purchase CS2 asap but its going to be a couple of months...

PS:playing with M (manual mode) a lot more now, its not as confusing as it was 2 months ago thanks to what I've learned from everyone in these forums! Thanks to everyone.

[billspaced]

It's not free, but it's very good -- Photoshop Elements 3. I think you can get a trial version from Adobe. Try it. If you like it, buy it or save up and wait til you have the Photoshop money.

I used Photoshop for years and never remotely came close to using everything it offered. Got PSE 3 a few months ago, along with a book from Scott Kelby written specifically for PSE 3, and can do everything and more that I could do in Photoshop (I admit I didn't know much about Photoshop, even though I had it for a long time).

Just goes to show that the best tool in the world is useless if you don't know how to use it (that was me and Photoshop).

[Nightcrawler]

If you are looking for something free to try, have a look at GIMP. http://www.gimp.org/
It's not as good as CS2, but for free, you can't beat it.