Do you think high quality closeups are possible with a point and click? Well, what do you mean by "high quality"? A really nice photo on your computer screen? Sure. A steady hand, a clean lens, and some practice can produce high quality photos with a modest camera. "high quality" to blow up to a 36"x72" print? No, probably not without photoshop. As good as the photos produced by a very high-end adjustable camera with a fine lens? No. If you have a p&s camera already, a new one might not be significantly better. If $$ is an issue, in this economy it might be wiser to save it. Maybe wait a year or a year and a half, and when the price drops on the S95 have a go at that one. Here is a link that might be useful: The Canon S95

I would rule out the one without the viewfinder. The area doesn't match well on our G10, but still a good option in bright sunlight no matter how good the LCD!!! LuminousLandscape.com is another good place for reviews. If it's too technical, don't worry, skim it and get to the conclusion Canon has a nice trade-in policy. When our G3 lens wouldn't pop out anymore, they offered a G10 for not that much more money than the repair. It didn't make sense not to as the G3 was too long in the tooth - worst part was it couldn't focus fast enough even on a slow moving pet. Just dropped it and the LCD is kaput. I'm wondering if I could upgrade to the new G12 when I send it in....

It should be on page 42 of the manual. I don't have that camera. It looks like you press the broken lightning bolt button until you get an icon I can't see very well. You may not be able to disable it in all modes, but I think you probably can. In order to be able to read the manual, I downloaded the one for the A520 on the Canon site (click on Product/Software Manuals), save it in a folder, then rename and back off the extra text until you get to .pdf. Keep that and open in Adobe Acrobat. I don't know the why of that. It downloads as PSA520510CUG-EN.pdfWWUCDownloadFromAkamaServlet What a mess. Also, I couldn't get the right screen in IE, and I had to use Netscape to download. What have they done now? Maybe I need to upgrade my Acrobat Reader. I was able to read the manual. Your friend should have one that came in the box with her camera. If not, help her figure out how to download one. She can print it out. Somehow. May have to burn it onto a cd and take it to someplace like Kinko's. Here is a link that might be useful: Canon Download Library

Hi jrzgurl: I personally do not know anything about the sony cybershot however my brother has a sony digital (sorry I don't know which one) and loves it...His particular model is much, much bigger than the canon sd600. I purchased the sd600 for my two university ages sons this christmas, they love the camera, very small, but they can still manage the buttons OK (sometimes bigger hands have trouble with these small cameras). The Canon takes an excellent picture and this one is very portable in your purse or pocket. I personally like Canon products.