One great new Canon that has just come out is the G10 (it took the place of the G9). It's a step up from the shirt pocket sized cameras....more like a jacket pocket camera. It has a fantastic display on the back, plus a viewfinder. Most viewfinders on the non DSLR cameras only show about 75% of what is actually going to end up in the photograph, but it does help with stabilization. The G10 has a lot of features of a DSLR, but without the bulk. Plus, it has image stabilization to help in low light situations. It's got some dials on top where you don't have to dig through a bunch of menus to make quick changes to ISO, program, auto, scenes, etc. Just turn a dial. It's a 14+ MP camera and will take RAW images as well....if you've never used RAW, the difference in quality and capturing more detail in the shadows and highlights is significant over a standard jpeg file. However, you do have to import the image into some kind of post processing software. I like Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2...this program is great for cataloging and doing basic "tweaks" to your photos, plus it makes the images easier to find if you take a bunch of photos over the years. The G10 Canon is capable of taking photos that are as good as any DSLR DX format, in most cases. High capacity battery, able to use the newer high speed memory cards as well, so there is no "lag" time in writing large images to the card. Built like a tank too. It's in the 4-5 hundred dollar range though, but still cheaper than most DSLR cameras.