[michsmith1973]

I have the canon powershot sd1000 as a point and shoot camera and for that aspect I love it. its easy to use, very compact and takes fairly decent pictures. Now when I say that it takes fairly decent pictures I am of course comparing it to my Minolta DSLR which is much larger, alot less compact but much better at taking sometimes almost professional like photographs. Of course your DSLR's are going to be much more expensive than your point and shoots....so if you are in a budget of $200 or less...my recomendation would definately be the powershots from Canon. You can get some really brilliant outdoor pics with this camera...and as far as indoor shots...its just something you have to play with. I usually take the majority of my indoor pics with my DSLR just because it takes much better pics indoors.

I would definately say research your cameras.....make sure what you are looking for is included on the camera that you get. I know in my last point and shoot camera that i wanted the fireworks mode and I also wanted a camera that I could take pics from with the LCD sreen instead of having to look through the tiny viewfinder. I got b oth of those features in the SD1000 model. Also be very aware of the type of batteriels a camera takes. I've found that cameras that take a normal double A battery tend to eat those up like candy. I will never buy another camera that doesn't have a recharagable battery. last but not least try cameras out in your hands....as one member said earlier....sometimes cameras just dont feel right in your hands and the buttons may feel off skewed when holding the camera in place to take a photo which can be distracting.

I actually splurged today on a new DSLR....got the Canon XTI and I cannot wait to get it....I needed an upgrade on my original DSLR that I've had for about 4yrs and I had a coupon that expired on the 22nd to use on it....so I took the plunge.

Good luck with your new camera purchase and definately let us know what you decide to go with.