Doing the slideshow thing, my default length for a still image event is set by the hidden Internal Preferences tab. But-- when I want to pan and zoom, I want to make it a longer yet precise length. Simply dragging the edge is imprecise without snapping to something. The little "offset triangle" would be good, but it doesn't drag beyond the event edge, and if you resize the event to be larger, it doesn't snap to it on the way back, but instead pushes it in. I come from the world of "object inspectors" and "properties palettes." I'd really like to be typing-in a number somewhere. Here is the best solution I have found:

Setting the cursor to the beginning of the event, setting the selection length to the desired clip length (the three numbers to the right of the transport controls), and dragging to the edge of the selection.

This also works, but is more difficult:

Inserting time before the event, positioning the cursor to the beginning of the event, dragging the event to the previous event, and stretching the event to the cursor.

I discovered in my Vegas tryout that you can do math in the cursor position boxes (ctrl + g, etc.) to move the cursor and change the selection. +15; will move the cursor or change the selection length incrementally. Very cool, but still not as easy as typing in a length somewhere, and unfortunately, it doesn't work in SB MS3. :(

If I'm overlooking something obvious, or if someone has a better technique, please let me know. Otherwise, the first solution will have to do!