When we lost a loved pet, our vet sent us this quote & we found it to bring comfort. Our pets are part of our family - I’m sorry for your loss.

We who choose to surround ourselves
with lives even more temporary than our
own, live within a fragile circle;
easily and often breached.
Unable to accept its awful gaps,
we would still live no other way.
We cherish memory as the only
certain immortality, never fully
understanding the necessary plan.

One of my photographic hobbies is to use photos of adventures with family and friends and create a photo collage. I use several (usually 5 - 10) photos and manipulate the size and placement on a page to create a montage of the experience. In the past, I have used Photoshop to edit the photos (very simple stuff like capture elements and manipulate brightness, blur the background, etc.) and then to create the collage. My son recently moved out and took his computer with Photoshop so I am now a hobbyist without the tools. I am looking for recommendations for a photo-editing program that would allow me to do what I did with Photoshop, but I certainly don't need the extensive tools (or the cost) of that program. Would Photoshop Elements serve my needs? Are there other recommendations?

I live in San Diego County too & have found that Fry's (at least the one in San Marcos) has a large selection of cameras. Have you checked out if they have the FZ 200 or will order one for you with no obligation to buy?

On initial read, I agreed with that proposal because I find it sad that posts get so hurtful and attacking, and you're right...that kind of discourse is not going to change anyone's mind, just polarize us into our already held positions. But then I remembered hearing a wise man tell me that "there are many windows to God or to the "truth." For some it's Jesus, for some it's Buddha, for some it's the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Look through whatever window works for you, but please don't try to force me to look through your window. And PLEASE don't throw mud on my window to dirty my view."

Maybe we can share the view through our windows without throwing mud on others'?

Thanks for the suggestions. Rather than get peanuts for what is really a decent camera, I am giving it to my son and he seems to feel about it the way I would probably feel about a '64 Mustang. Old but classic and still very cool.

In doing house clean up, I came across my brother's old Minolta XE-7 film SLR with a Tokina 28-200 zoom and an Auto Promaster 1:2.8, f=135mm lens.

My brother doesn't want them back. We are having a garage sale this weekend. Should I just let it all go for a couple bucks or is it really worth something?

There are MANY fantastic sights for fun and photography in San Diego County. Four that I would not miss are:

1. La Jolla Cove
2. Cabrillo National Monument
3. Balboa Park
4. Hotel del Coronado

There are arguments to be made about whether it is worthwhile to get "faster" memory cards or not spend the money - how fast can your camera process photos? How fast can your computer download from the card?

Leaving that aside, Bestbuy.com is having an OUTRAGEOUS offer on one of the best SD cards. They are selling the Sandisk Extreme Pro SDHC card at a deep discount. Here is the link:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/searchpage.jsp?_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&_dynSessConf=&id=pcat17071&type=page&sc=Global&cp=1&nrp=15&sp=&qp=&list=n&iht=y&usc=All+Categories&ks=960&saas=saas&st=sandisk+extreme+pro+sdhc

Take it out whenever I am not using it? Every day? What is common practice?

I just got a new camera (Sony RX 100) and it uses a rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery. In the past, I have always removed the battery from a camera when not using it for lengthy periods. Is this a good practice so as to not drain the battery and prolong its life?

I am looking for recommendations for trusted on-line camera sales sites. I have heard good things about Adorama and B&H, I bought from Abe's of Maine and was satisfied, and I know I can always go to Amazon. What are the most trusted, professional and reliable sales sites that UHHers have found?

Primotronix.com & BestPricePhoto.com are selling the Sony RX100 for $569. The cheapest at any other site is around $650. Does anyone have experience buying from either of these sites?

I have read mostly positive reviews of the sony rx100 - 20 mp, large sensor, compact size. As with any product, there are also people who are unhappy with it. What do those of you who have it think? Is the image quality really superior? Is there a problem with focusing? What are the pros and cons?

I have been looking at a superzoom/bridge camera like the Canon sx50, till someone on this site suggested the Sony rx100 with its large sensor. All the reviews suggest that this camera, although expensive ($650.) is worth the money. I do not use the far-end of a long zoom and figure that I could crop down the 20 mp image and still have high quality images. Am I nuts for going in this direction?

Thanks for the suggestion. It looks like the 20mp and large sensor are very impressive. I was hoping for a zoom range more than 3.6x but if the photo quality is superlative, I guess I could crop and still be able to blow up pictures? Still hoping for a somewhat larger zoom range...