I had my eye on a Panasonic Lumix digital camera for awhile after it was recommended on the (awesome) [Cool Tools](http://www.kk.org/cooltools) mailing list. The problem was the camera he talked about was discontinued. Luckily, a new version of the same unit was released and once I saw it favorably reviewed both by Kevin Kelly on the Cool Tools list but by Cory Doctorow on [Boing Boing](http://www.boingboing.net), I knew I had to get it. Our old Toshiba was great but it was getting old and the extreme slowness of it's shutter was really bugging me. You wouldn't believe the number of shots I deleted in [Picasa](http://picasa.google.com/) before uploading to [Flickr](http://www.flickr.com). So my new Lumix TZ1 was delivered today and the battery is charging as I write this. It's a great little camera. 5 megapixels, fast shutter, numerous helpful "modes" to help my photography-challenged self take better pictures. But the big thing is the 10X optical zoom, using some kind of folding mirror system. The big zoom is the main feature for me, I like to take pictures of plants and things on my walks and of stuff I find riding my bike. Plus it was only $240 with a free 1GB memory card and carrying case at [Newegg.com](http://www.newegg.com), my favorite online computer store.

So the moral of the story is that there will be tons more pictures in my Flickr account soon. I might make 2007 the year I upgrade to a Flickr pro account and really start learning more about how to take good pictures.

[tags]camera,flickr,lumix,digital+cameras[/tags]