Long pulse laser shots of the PALS iodine laser in Prague have been used to obtain metal target ablation at various experimental conditions. Attention is paid mainly to the dependencies of the crater diameter on the position of minimum laser-focus spot with regard to the target surface, by using different laser wavelengths and laser energies. Not only a single one, but two minima, independently of the wavelength, of the target irradiation angle and of the target material, were recorded. Significant asymmetries, ascribed to the non-linear effects of intense laser beam with pre-formed plasma, were found, too. Estimations of ejected mass per laser pulse are reported and used to calculate the efficiency of laser-driven loading. Results on metal target ablation and crater formation at high intensities (from 2 x 10(13) to 3 x 10(16) W/cm(2)) are presented and compared. Crater depth, crater diameter and etching yield are reported versus the laser energy, in order to evaluate the ablation threshold fluence. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.