Thanks all for the comments. It just shows if you keep at it you can get better.
Yes Scott the manual lens does have a very good iris as it is manual. The autofocus and auto iris motors can only handle so much mass to work quickly. Although having the aperture before the lens stops all light that does not contribute to the image. This minimises contrast loss due to scattered light inside the lens from this unwanted light.
I will collect more data. This image has only had the levels tweaked from the image that EasyHDR produced.
Here is a full resolution tiff 46MB if anyone wants to have a play in PS.
save it and use your favourite viewer.
http://d1355990.i49.quadrahosting.co.../RHO_large.tif
I have just organised a new host for images with 1GB storage limit. Bigpong Bigblog with extra storage stopped working and after two hours on the phone to attempt to rectify the situation and now weeks later no change. I gave up. The phone call (mobile)would have paid for the first three months of the new provider. They are based in Melbourne so if anything goes wrong there will be instant response.
Bert