mujana, CS3 isn't all that expensive if you can figure out a way to get the academic discount. Try
PROVANTAGE SuperStore: Buy GPS Computers Electronics Software More (no, I don't have any connection to the company.) What I like about PS' raw converter is you can even play with jpegs in it. My 86 year young father just bought his first digital camera. It is a "point and shoot" but fills his needs. He brought it over to the house a couple of weeks ago, had 165 pictures on the card and no idea what to do next. Of course the ones he wanted were some of the worst exposures. Using the PS raw processor I was able to save (to his satisfaction) about 90% of the bad ones.