For a newbie with digital cameras, my first tip is to forget about
digital zoom completely. It does nothing but make your pics blurry...turn that feature off if your camera allows. Concentrate on MP-megapixels-and optical zoom.
I recently purchased another digital camera and these were my top picks after quite a bit of research.
Panasonics have a great lens by Leica and it's hard to find many cameras with 10X opitcal zoom.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...activeda654-20
Another with superb zoom is the Nikon Coolpix which is a little more but has 10X zoom also.
Amazon.com: Nikon Coolpix S10 6MP Digital Camera... My final recommendation is Casio Ex-V8 with 8X zoom which is very compact and has a special YouTube video mode.
Amazon.com: Casio Exilim EX-V8 8MP Digital Camera... I'm not suggesting you purchase from Amazon, just put the links because it's easy to find stuff there.
One last tip is to be aware of "digital delay" which means there is lag-time between pushing the button to take the picture and actually getting the shot. Just take loads of shots and delete the ones you don't like.
Good luck with your new camera.
Have fun with it.