Thank you very much! Somehow I got this thing working again. Several weeks ago, I had bought a card reader,(for a ridiculous amount of money) in a local drug store. Didn't work. Then I bought a reader from some outfit called Geeks.com, for a few bucks (with free shipping) This one could take 4 different cards. Seems I couldn't get this one to work either, until I plugged the cazmera in again. Then it worked, and the screen doesn't disappear anymore. I have no idea how this worked; I am a complete computer illiterate, but Thank you, thank you. Regards, John

The AUTO setting is a good place to start for a beginner. Like Zitro_joe says - keep that ISO as low as possible. If you are in low light you can get more pictures with a higher ISO - but they will be grainy. Practice - practice - practice. Take as many pictures as you can. If you take 20 of something - you might get that really AWESOME shot! It doesn't cost anything to shoot digital - just upload them on your computer and look to see how you are doing. I recommend lots of practice before you really need to get some good pictures. That way you are used to the camera and know what kind of shots you are capable of. Have fun!

Did you see the comparison of these the British guy did a while back? I think he reviewed four waterproof models. That review might be two years old, but he might still be doing them.

I've got a Canon Power Shot S2 IS. Its a great point an shoot camera, but with a few gripes. The good stuff: 1. Fast boot up. Ready to go 1 second after turn on. 2. Quick auto-focus. If the auto-focus is turned off for general viewing and composing, it will focus when the shutter button is pressed to the first detent and immediately fire the shutter when the button is pressed all the way down. You press to the first detent, wait for focus, then shoot. Focusing in good light takes nore more than a second or so. Focus lag can be eliminated if the auto-focus is set to full time, but uses more battery power. Usually, by the time you compose the picture it is waiting for you. 3. Auto-focus continues while shooting a video. 4. Great lens 12 X Zoom, 6.0 - 72.0 mm; f/2.7 - f/3.5. There aren't many lenses out there (in this price range) that will have an arperature of f/3.5 at 12 X zoom. 5. The S2 model has 5.0 MP. This has been plenty for what I do. Later models have more. 6. Battery life is average with the Hybrid NiMH rechargeable cells. Regular NiMH cells are disappointing. These do not hold charge very well. The Hybrid NiMH cells leak rate is acceptable and superior to the regular NiMH cells. 7. The view finder brightens in low light to aid composition. The amount of brightening is amazing. When the shutter button is pressed to the first detent, a small green led light beam turns on to aid focusing and turns off for the shot. 8. Raising the flash lamp activates it. It needs a few seconds to charge. 9. Lens distortion is low. Swing-out and swivel rear screen. The agravating: 1. The sensor does not seem to have as much dynmaic range as a Nikon or Kodak. 2. Default settings causes burn out of highlighted items. This can be remedied by switiching to the "P" (program) mode and adjusting exposure down by 1/3 F stop. 3. Although the lens has 12X zoom, I would sacrifice a litte zoom on the long end to get wider at the low end. The low end is not wide enough for close-in group shots. 4. The worst failing for the S2 model. Viewfinder is too dim in bright light and the rear screen is hard to see (and increases battery drain). 5. There is no optical view finder; it is electronic. It is a little short of pixels to make good judgements about fine focus and there is a lag as one adjustes the focus. However, since the viewfinder is using signal from the main sensor, it accurately frames the scene. These comments apply to the S2 model. Improvements have been made in later models. It will be difficult to beat the performace of this camera in this price range.