My little Canon does an outstanding job! Great pics. Consider buying a larger memory card than what comes w/ it and you'll want a case. Also, to the intuitive thing; these little cameras are loaded w/ features, you'll want some I expect but not all. They'll most likely have some sort of "soft keys" that change things depending on something else. When you're not pressured, have one of the techies explain the different features and how to get them w/ the mini buttons. I think you'll want something that does good portraits, has a relatively high speed and crams just lots and lots of pixels into the shots. As seen by JC's Yosemite pics, you'll end up wanting to blow some up and print/frame them.