L to the U in the motherfuckin MIX

I have sung the praises of The Panasonic LUMIX Series of Digital Cameras before. <-Read That. I am now on my fourth. This is entirely my fault. I carry my camera everywhere. No matter what I'm wearing I will have a camera on my person.

The first one lasted quite awhile, then I dropped it with the barrel open at a wedding and it was done. I sent it in, under warranty, and they fixed it for free. While it was being fixed I bought a second. I carried it till my first camera came back, then gave it to GG. 

Then I dropped my camera again. From a second story. It bounced, and still kept working. Then I dropped it AGAIN, cracking the monitor. I figured the warranty had expired (1 year) so I carried GG's till I bought the cheaper of the two models available at Co$tco.

I know, maybe I need to hang to my cameras tighter. I just have it out so much, and sometimes it falls from a pocket while I'm scaling the side of a building trying to break into my friends house cause were locked out and it's a long drive back to the city and if one of these doors or windows was unlocked, cause we can see the key inside instead of in the combo lock holder hanging from the doorknob where it's supposed to be.

I wear a camera leash now, especially when leaning out the window while driving across the bay bridge trying to get a shot of an impending storm or dali-esque shot of the bay.

This lesser model really doesn't take as good of pics as the upper models. They make a lot of different models, with different size lenses and different Megapixals, all the way up to Digital SLR models. Sadly there is a difference. Hanzo even noticed the quality in my pics on my blog. Maybe you did too.

So, for my b-day last August, GG bought me the upper model available at Co$tco. These cameras are available all over the place, but we were on a ride out on the Baytrail, with the lesser camera, and there was the store, so GG and I ran in while Hatori fixed MY flat on the Croll. It Was my birthday, kinda.

This camera rocked my world. It took great pics, had a big lens, 10x optical zoom, 16.9 quality digital zoom, and a whopping 67.5 crappy quality zoom (tripod necessary).

Well, we were at another wedding when I noticed sunlight was refracting, reflecting off of something on the lens. I could see it in the monitor and in pics, a yellow spot in the center of the image (just below the center window).

I looked at it up close, and could only figure something was on the inside of the outer lens cover/lens, whatever that piece of glass is. It looked like a small piece of a foxtail.

I kept shooting for awhile, but it was driving me nuts, so I grabbed GG's FS3 (model number) and sent in my sweet camera.

It came back so fast. They, and I quote, "Replaced Lens Unit and Updated Firmware". It's back and it's better than ever.

Fuck, I love this camera. I almost bought a second one while I was waiting, but I heard something about hard times and a Depression, so I waited and it came back to me.

Today, we went to the MLK Jr. Regional Shoreline, "Arrowhead Marsh", and I shot a Juvenile Red Tail.

And a Great Egret, and while these are local regulars, I'm so glad to be carrying this camera again.

Oh, and here's a fine example of some Zoom Shit. This is, basically shot from Oakland Airport.

Regular

10x Optical Zoom

And 67.5 Crazy Zoom, No Tripod. It looses a lot of detail.

Here's a Review of this model.

I'm not getting kickbacks, I just love these cameras.
I have sent two back to the company and they have come back repaired for free. I am going to send in my two broken cameras, even though they are well beyond warranty and see what happens.

I'll let you know.