Iron_Dreamer

Good choice. It will have the bonus of using the same familiar Panasonic button/control/menu layout (for the most part) as your LX5. I've used several Panasonic compacts, and they seem similar enough that once you know your way around one, you're good to go. Specs on the TS10 look pretty good, image quality should be quite similar to the TS2, you just give up a bit of waterproofing (it just be fine for snorkeling, just not scuba diving). Have a great time in Hawaii! Even though I'm heading up to Jasper park in Alberta tomorrow, I'm still jealous, I just I love it in Hawaii. And bring us back some nice pics (just be sure to use a polarizing filter if you want those beautiful aquamarine water/dark blue sky type beach shots).

I don't know how long you'll need it, but you could just rent one here: http://www.lensrentals.com/rent/nikon/cameras/compact-cameras/compact-underwater-camera I have a Panasonic TS2, and it makes decent photos and 720p videos. You going to be sacrificing image quality on just about any of the waterproof compacts.

Post-processing is a must, no way you could rely on the camera to make your creative decisions for you. Shutter speeds are generally long (over 10sec) but not too long (much over 45sec and stars start becoming trails, even on a very wide lens). Generally for such shots, you need as wide an aperture and as high an ISO as your equipment can provide while still rendering a good shot. Hence the reason I love my 14-24 f/2.8 Nikkor.

I'm working on it, Gene, the shots I'm posting are the first I've been putting up on a new website.

There wasn't much schlepping involved, it was only about 0.25mi from a parking area However I did schlepp the D700 and a Gorillapod Focus about 6000ft up the side of Mt Shasta a few days later to be able to take this:

Here is a pretty cool site for seeing how dark (or not) is is across the U.S. at night: http://www.jshine.ne...onomy/dark_sky/ The picture above was taken in the second darkest zone on the map. Contrast it with the one below, taken at about 6500ft in the mountains above Los Angeles, squarely in the second or third brightest zone on the map. Higher elevation, lower temperature, and less moonlight all help. As does shooting well between sunset and sunrise. In both shots, you're seeing more than meets the naked eye in either place, thanks to the miracles of modern camera equipment.

Here's one from my recent Nor Cal trip, taken at about 8200ft, just below Mount Lassen.

Happy Belated, Mike! Hopefully I'll be chasing you up a trail soon.

Rooted my Thunderbolt and Installed CyanogenMod7 yesterday. What an improvement from the stock ROM! Most operations feel a bit quicker, but start-up time is noticeably quicker, and the overall UI is just much more streamlined and appealing. I'm not yet sure if the battery life is any better, but I'm sure it will be in 4G areas, being that I can now quickly and easily turn off the power-sucking LTE radio when I don't need the faster speeds. And yes, I do love that Google Maps now allows the map downloads for offline areas. Makes a big difference for me, since I spend a lot of time in remote, mountainous areas with sporadic service.

Tell me about it. If only more music was available well-mastered. Sigh.

If I'm in CO this October, it'll be for GABF first and foremost. Maybe RMAF if I can spend the intervening two weeks hiking and shooting, with no need to be somewhere else.

I figured you were somewhere in that crowd shooting away, Jeff, while I watched the race on Speed. Nice for sure, much better shots than the ones you got last year. As for Torpedo, I don't think you can go wrong with the top crop cameras from Nikon, Canon, or Pentax. It would be more about which lens system you want to buy into, and which control layout you prefer. As much as I love my D700, it is a committment, both in size to lug around, and cost. But if you want insane low-light capability and extremely malleable RAW files, there's nothing better for the price.

Still very happy with my Thunderbolt, haven't had any of the rebooting or battery problems that people are reporting. And the screen useful enough for general web stuff that I really wouldn't want a tablet, short of a full-on Windows affair like the Asus EP121, capable of running Photoshop.

Hope it's a great one, Ben!

Here's a few shots from my hike with 909 in the San Jacinto Wilderness, Friday: Looking down over 8,000 feet to the desert floor: David takes a refreshing dunk into an ice-cold stream: We spent some time on the famed Pacific Crest Trail: David found his zen on this trip:

Love the space shuttle shot! Y'all be crazy, though, 7000 shots! I don't think I take that many in a year.

Wow, what an event! And what a haul!

In-n-out "flying dutchmen"

Big sky brewing Ivan the terrible , wow this stuff is great, Tyll!

Supplication at Stone Brewing in Escondido.

I see what you're saying, Brent, and I'm sure I'll be ready for an update by Dec 2012 when I'm next eligible. But for now I love the Thunderbolt, and since I didn't have a smartphone of any sort before, I couldn't just keep waiting ad infinitum. LTE rocks!

Rogue Chocolate Stout

LOL, that is what I get for not reading closely enough. I guess subconsciously I knew I wasn't going to be there, so what difference did the details make. 10,000 people? That is unbelievably insane!

Way to avoid pulling a Clark Griswold there Dan!

Ddrinking a Rogue Dead Guy Ale