srw,

Welcome to the forum.

I was looking at this camera and the Nikon 8800, and after shooting a few photos in teh shop, I decided to buy the Nikon 8800, and I am very happy with it.

Another camera you might wish to look at is the Canon S1 IS. This one has a 3.2 MP sensor and 10X optical zoom, with an image stabilizer.

I used this in Tanzania this year, and was extremely happy with it.

It will also takes very good videos.