Hi Den
I realise that the image I presented is underexposed - sorry! Looks like it was necessary to boost by over a stop to get full range when processing it. That may explain some of the noise; the rest I suspect is the limitation of a densely packed image sensor on the Fuji S9500.
I am going to experiment now with some better exposed examples - thanks for clarifying the mask technique.
best regards, Mark.
newbie question
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