Panasonic ZS5, I’m not impressed…

No disrespect to Ken Rockwell’s fine reviews, but I appreciate the fact that there are more camera manufacturers than just Nikon & Canon.

To that end, although my dSLR is a Canon, I’m always on the lookout for a “go to” point & shoot camera. So much so, that – much to the chagrin of my wife – it’s become something of an annual tradition to start each summer with a new camera…

Anyway, throwing caution to the wind and utterly disregarding Mr. Rockwell’s advice, I picked up a Panasonic ZS5

It’s a pocketable 12.1 megapixel camera, with a 12x Optical Zoom

In all fairness, this little guy produces quality images, but it’s construction is toy-like and flimsy. While on a family trip to Mt. Washington, it took a small ding on the car door. Now, I certainly DO put my gadgets to the test, but not in a reckless or intentionally destructive sort of way. So, when I say a SMALL ding, I mean it brushed up against the car door.

The camera is utterly useless as a result, and just out of warranty…of course.

Curse you, Ken…AND your rock solid advice… If only I had listened.

How To Score A Seat On NASA’s Final Shuttle Missions

Space, the final frontier…yeah, ok, that was pretty lame.

But what isn’t lame is the fact that we’re rapidly approaching the final two missions of NASA’s Shuttle program, with just STS-133, and STS-134 left on the mission docket.

To commemorate the end of an era, NASA is allowing ANYONE who wants to go into space the chance to do just that, virtually of course.

NASA’s “Face In Space” Program allows you to upload a digital photo of yourself to NASA (I can just hear the conspiracy theorists moaning now) which will fly with the crew on their mission.

Once the mission is complete, you will be able to return to the NASA site and download a Flight Certificate, signed by the mission commander…

Billy’s going to space!!!

Project 365, Month 2 Almost Completed

In just a few short days, I will have completed two months of my self-imposed “Project 365″.

For those not following or familiar, this project requires me to take a picture daily (although, admittedly, it’s tougher than it sounds and I’ve missed three days in two months…not to worry, I used pictures taken on other days, and simply made a notation on the photos selected which were taken within a 24 hour window of each date in question)

Aside from learning that I need to be more diligent in taking my daily photos, I’ve actually begun to finally appreciate how lighting plays a key role in crafting good photos.

I’m also finally beginning to understand how to better use my dSLR in full manual mode (although, I’m a sucker for Program mode, which is like one step removed from FULL AUTO)

Fortunately, I found a pretty sweet iPhone app, Project365, which allows me to store and organize my photos. I can share them on Facebook, or email them as desired…pretty cool.