Interesting, I've not seen smudgy shadows with hair when turning off the light emitter on hair, but I do have a small minimum bias on lights and my IDL samples and cache are always high.

On the magnifier bit, BB's Artistic lense could be a start. Don't have a link now to that thread. I did on my HP before it died, but not on my new computer.

"A lonely climber walks a tightrope to where dreams are born and never die!" - Billy Thorpe, song: Edge of Madness, album: East of Eden's Gate

Weapons of choice:

Poser Pro 2012, SR2, Paintshop Pro 8