[at-l] Digitial Camera..thanks!

[Paul Magnanti]

Well, what can I say, I am overwhelmed by the amount of responses I received (about 2 dozen!). 
I decided to go with the Canon A630.  

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Canon/canon_a630.asp
http://www.dpreview.com/shop/merchants.asp?id=canon_a640 (a 640 review, but the 630 is basically the 8mp version of this camera)
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_a630_a640-review/

FWIW, I went with this camera because:

-It does use AA batteries
- Has the optical view finder. (Call me old fashioned, but I frame and compose pics better with the optical view finder. It works better outdoors than an LCD, too).
  This part was by far the most important to me.
-As others pointed out to me, SD cards are dirt cheap now.

The A640 is a 10MP model, but was $100 more and the picture quality was not that much higher. I was seriously looking at the A710, but the A630 seems to have many features, is a solid performer, and was less money. I do not take many low light photographs, so the image stabilization feature is not as critical, esp. since I use a mini-tripod anyway. 

It has many manual features, glowing reviews, and is a good step between a consumer grade camera and a professional SLR.  One review called it a camera for the "serious amateur".   I don't know how serious I am...but I am definitely amateur in many things I do. :-)

This type of camera (a P&S for someone into photography) is becoming increasingly scarce. The next step for me would be an SLR...and a big weight penalty. :(  This camera better not break down! 

I have used DPReviews in the past, and find it to be an awesome source for digital camera info.

Thanks again for ALL the suggestions.

Special thanks to Footslogger and Jim Bullard who both steered me in the Canon direction.
 
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