I just found your blog today. Being an IT guy (20 years corporate computing) and recently going into photography I am finding your blog is an interesting place to visit.

I have to admit that I've not had the finances to move my camera up. I shoot with a Sony DSC-F828, and last year had to retire the DSC-F717 when a year of regular shooting had the camera screaming failures during shooting. Talk about frustrating! So far things with this one are pretty good.

I went to manual mode shooting immediately upon getting the F717. Automatic practically never gives me what I want. I can flip to that mode to check on what the camera thinks are good settings for the environment.

I do love the ability to set white balance - since I'm documenting behind the scenes of an indie film series getting the colors as close to the film camera is important. Filming is often with a blue tint and heavy on the saturation - this works for the sci-fi series InZer0. Yes it would be helpful if at the next session I knew that the settings were whack from a filming session. I do regularly check the view finder, so it isn't a concern too often. Gotta love digital photography for immediate feedback.

I'll have to check in to see what other thoughts you're sharing. If curious about my photos the linked website hosts about 40,000 photos I've taken since April 2005. I'm shooting events, fashion, film, and music around Detroit.