The new camera is spectacular. Tiny. Fast. Sexy look. Easy to use. Almost perfect.

I’ve a got a big to-do list concerning it’s operation to make it perfect:

1) Set evaluative white balance. The auto white balance seems a little overexposed but very rich.
2) Get Jenn to use Flickr. Folks need to see these great pictures.
3) Buy a second battery. The camera doesn’t have a persistent battery indicator and I don’t want it to die in the middle of something cool.
4) iPod sock. Jenn and I are devoting one particular sock to the iPod and one to the camera. It sounds dumb but it works.
5) Macro practice. Our old camera (Minolta F100) was good at the telephoto end of it’s macro mode. This camera is the exact opposite, performing well at the wide angle. I need to practice standing closer to objects with the lens than I normally would. Old habits die hard.
6) SD cards. I’ve got to find all of them, since I’ve got the feeling we might fill a gigabyte or more during our upcoming vacation (we’re taking pics at the M2 size – 4 megapixels – and the normal quality, so about 800k – 1mb per photo).
7) Try not to get too excited. I really have to restrain myself from photographing everything. The camera is so responsive and impulsive that I don’t want to over-do it. The old camera made me a picky, choosy shooter and I don’t want to lose my eye for detail.

That’s it for now. Fuller review, sample photos and more gushing to come.