I was so happy when I got my Panasonic DMC-FX7. It was brand new and I was the happiest kid on the block with the all new “anti-shake” power in a small point-&-shoot camera. Little did this kid know that someone else wanted his FX7, and iPod and custom laptop. After a few days in the LeJeune area, all three come up missing. Another few hundred bucks and I’m the proud owner of the Panasonic LZ1. Not too shabby. It wasn’t what I expected but ‘eh, it will do for Iraq right? WRONG. Heat and sand quickly pulled the plug on the camera’s life and I didn’t have neither the time, nor the chickens and dance to bring this camera back from the dead. Another hundred bucks and I get the brand new DMC-FX8. Just shy of its bigger brother, the FX9, I come out on top with a nice deal from Amazon and it last for the remaining months in Iraq. Come home and I couldn’t be happier with its performance. What it wasn’t ready for was the next unit which I was going to which performed task like getting out of helos and dashing to the ground, water training, and long, cold, humid nights. I never bought a case and I am kicking myself for it now because all three cameras above probably could have been saved had I bought a case for them. I would always have it on me via the case so I wouldn’t have got my FX7 stolen, and the LZ1 and FX8 would be better protected from the elements with a case around them. Well, the FX8 started to get little lines and smudges on the lens and I couldn’t fix them. As you can see in the picture below, when I zoomed, it came out bad in the image. Quite noticeable and pugly. I guess this made my camera being lost in the Philippines a bit easier to swallow. When my buddy, who I lent my camera to while he was drunk, came to me and said I don’t have your camera, I was pretty upset, but after looking at a few of its images, I wasn’t going to kill him. Instead, I was going to tattoo the word “Camera Case” into my right arm so I wouldn’t forget when I went back to purchase another Panasonic. Say hello to the DMC-FX50. The latest and greatest from the FX line-up. 7.2 mega pixels and a very, very large and vivid LCD. It’s nice and,.a camera case! Time to get this tattoo removed ‘eh?