diff --git a/.cproject b/.cproject
index 65ba17ce7..84b258330 100644
--- a/.cproject
+++ b/.cproject
@@ -687,6 +687,14 @@
 				<useDefaultCommand>true</useDefaultCommand>
 				<runAllBuilders>true</runAllBuilders>
 			</target>
+			<target name="testDataset.run" path="build/gtsam/slam" targetID="org.eclipse.cdt.build.MakeTargetBuilder">
+				<buildCommand>make</buildCommand>
+				<buildArguments>-j5</buildArguments>
+				<buildTarget>testDataset.run</buildTarget>
+				<stopOnError>true</stopOnError>
+				<useDefaultCommand>true</useDefaultCommand>
+				<runAllBuilders>true</runAllBuilders>
+			</target>
 			<target name="all" path="build_wrap" targetID="org.eclipse.cdt.build.MakeTargetBuilder">
 				<buildCommand>make</buildCommand>
 				<buildArguments>-j2</buildArguments>
diff --git a/examples/SFMExample_bal.cpp b/examples/SFMExample_bal.cpp
index bd0932516..94dd70700 100644
--- a/examples/SFMExample_bal.cpp
+++ b/examples/SFMExample_bal.cpp
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@
 
 using namespace std;
 using namespace gtsam;
+using symbol_shorthand::C;
+using symbol_shorthand::P;
 
 // We will be using a projection factor that ties a SFM_Camera to a 3D point.
 // An SFM_Camera is defined in datase.h as a camera with unknown Cal3Bundler calibration
@@ -35,53 +37,42 @@ typedef GeneralSFMFactor<SfM_Camera,Point3> MyFactor;
 /* ************************************************************************* */
 int main (int argc, char* argv[]) {
 
-  // default file
+  // Find default file, but if an argument is given, try loading a file
   string filename = findExampleDataFile("dubrovnik-3-7-pre");
-
-  // If an argument is given, try loading a file
   if (argc>1) filename = string(argv[1]);
 
-  ///< The structure where we will save the SfM data
-  SfM_data mydata;
-  assert(readBAL(filename, mydata));
+  // Load the SfM data from file
+  SfM_data mydata; assert(readBAL(filename, mydata));
+  cout << boost::format("read %1% tracks on %2% cameras\n") % mydata.number_tracks() % mydata.number_cameras();
 
   // Create a factor graph
   NonlinearFactorGraph graph;
 
-  // Define the camera observation noise model
+  // We share *one* noiseModel between all projection factors
   noiseModel::Isotropic::shared_ptr noise =
       noiseModel::Isotropic::Sigma(2, 1.0); // one pixel in u and v
 
   // Add measurements to the factor graph
   size_t j = 0;
   BOOST_FOREACH(const SfM_Track& track, mydata.tracks) {
-    BOOST_FOREACH(const SfM_Measurement& measurement, track.measurements) {
-      size_t i; Point2 uv;
-      boost::tie(i, uv) = measurement;
-      graph.push_back(MyFactor(uv, noise, Symbol('x', i), Symbol('p', j)));
+    BOOST_FOREACH(const SfM_Measurement& m, track.measurements) {
+      size_t i = m.first;
+      Point2 uv = m.second;
+      graph.push_back(MyFactor(uv, noise, C(i), P(j))); // note use of shorthand symbols C and P
     }
     j += 1;
   }
 
   // Add a prior on pose x1. This indirectly specifies where the origin is.
-  graph.push_back(
-      PriorFactor<SfM_Camera>(Symbol('x', 0), mydata.cameras[0],
-          noiseModel::Isotropic::Sigma(9, 0.1)));
+  // and a prior on the position of the first landmark to fix the scale
+  graph.push_back(PriorFactor<SfM_Camera>(C(0), mydata.cameras[0],  noiseModel::Isotropic::Sigma(9, 0.1)));
+  graph.push_back(PriorFactor<Point3>    (P(0), mydata.tracks[0].p, noiseModel::Isotropic::Sigma(3, 0.1)));
 
-  // Add a prior on the position of the first landmark to fix the scale
-  graph.push_back(
-      PriorFactor<Point3>(Symbol('p', 0), mydata.tracks[0].p,
-          noiseModel::Isotropic::Sigma(3, 0.1)));
-
-  // Create the data structure to hold the initial estimate to the solution
-  // Intentionally initialize the variables off from the ground truth
+  // Create initial estimate
   Values initial;
-  size_t i = 0;
-  BOOST_FOREACH(const SfM_Camera& camera, mydata.cameras)
-    initial.insert(Symbol('x', i++), camera);
-  j = 0;
-  BOOST_FOREACH(const SfM_Track& track, mydata.tracks)
-    initial.insert(Symbol('p', j++), track.p);
+  size_t i = 0; j = 0;
+  BOOST_FOREACH(const SfM_Camera& camera, mydata.cameras) initial.insert(C(i++), camera);
+  BOOST_FOREACH(const SfM_Track& track, mydata.tracks)    initial.insert(P(j++), track.p);
 
   /* Optimize the graph and print results */
   Values result;