I think I will try seeing how the photomatix deals with the highlights. The camera is on a tripod. It is painless to take more shots. Back to the drawing board....
For me the problem with raising shadows is that the k-7 is quite noisy in the shadows. I could go back to stacking and averaging exposures, but that is problematic too, and can easily lead to a lack of sharpness if all your photos in the stack aren't critically sharp. Night shooting is a real challenge with a need for a large dynamic range. I think the coating on this lens is interfering though. I need to do some tests with the kit lens (my only modern lens lol), the smc 50mm, and my tamron and compare how the coatings deal with highlights. In the meantime, let me find an illustration for you....