I am considering Photomatic (sic?) but I ahve heard there is a freeware tool that is its equal.

Anyone know what it is?

A little buggy on the tone mapping, but the HDR is pretty cool. It's open source too (i.e., free). :)

http://qtpfsgui.sourceforge.net/

I am considering Photomatic (sic?) but I ahve heard there is a freeware tool that is its equal.

Qtpfsgui is the software you are speaking of but no, its no where near its equal. I use both FDR Tools and Photomatix and there are no replacements for them.