You mentioned about having a easy way of changing paint colors. What I do is line up all the colors I'll be using in the top row of the paint pallet, starting with the most used color and progressing to the least used. If I'm using the Build and Repair units, then the "grind" color is in there as well. What is the easy way to switch colors you might ask? It is the square bracket keys. One moves the selection towards the right and the other moves it to the left. When it reaches the end of a row, it cycles to the next row. I hope this helps you.
Good call, I actually forgot I was going to try something unique with cameras as well. I might mess with it and then show what I did on the other side of the ship.