Hi Ann My Wife has a Canon S2 IS....all I can say is, you get allot of camera for your money! I use a Rebel, but S2 always amazes me with the quality of photos it can take! The only drawback I find with these cameras, also Sony, I tried one out, 12 x zoom lens, but have returned it, just because the processing speed is a bit slow, perhaps with the new one it is better? As for batteries, we use Energizer rechargeable 2500 mA H, it takes about 3 hrs. to recharge and you can shoot about 200 to 300 pics on super fine setting. You should have at least two sets [of 4] , my Wife has 3 sets, so you will never run out of power. I find these batteries are more convenient, because it is available anywhere, much cheaper, about 1/3 of the price then my canon Rebel special battery. We heard, S3 IS will be released May 31. Also it has some new futures like sport shooting setting, which is good for moving objects and ISO up to 800 from 400. Here are some sample shots from couple of days ago. Konrad Macro

Well, I guess I answered my own question. I went out to look over cameras today and fell in love with the Sony Cybershot T100. It looks like a great camera and seems really easy to use. I called a friend of mine to see if her husband who used to work as a professional photographer could check out the specs online. He didn't have to, he owns two! I guess that is a good enough endorsement for me, I'm going to go buy one tomorrow. He even offered to help me with anything I had questions about, but he said it is so easy to use (with a couple exceptions) that I probably can figure it out with no problem. Thanks for the input. By the way, my Elph bit the dust in an interesting way. I was showing my husband some shots I took the day before and saw my rabbit being cute from the corner of my eye. So I switched to picture mode, adjusted the zoom (before turning so she would not stop playing with the paper bag), the turned to snap the photo. When I looked it was so badly blurred it looked like the picture was melting. So I looked at the screen, and everything I looked at looked that way! Something must come have loose, a lens I guess? If I gently shake it I can hear something rattle. The guy at the shop said I must have dropped it and jarred something loose, of course it was in my hands when it suddenly went blurry. Weird! Believe it or not, I have owned it for 5 years and never dropped it, my cell phone wishes I could say the same about it!

Steph the higher the ISO the grainier the photos will look as that's adjusting the sensitivity to light of the camera's sensor, similar to using a higher speed film in a film camera. However it shouldn't be so noticeable at ISO 200. More normal would be some graininess at ISO 400 and over so perhaps your interior daylight isn't sufficiently bright. The yellow cast could be be from your white balance setting. Try changing that and experiment with different options. Try the tungsten setting, which you'd normally use for an indoor photo illuminated by incandescent lightbulbs. The camera will then reduce the yellow cast in your photo. Otherwise to get the correct natural colour try the custom white balance using white paper that I mentioned. Sharon

I'm w/ azzalea and sheilajoyce and redcurls--but I like sheilajoyce's point about sending me something less permanent. It's nice to see what the kid looks like, but honestly it will rapidly become clutter. Technically, it's not legal for your to scan the photo company's portrait and e-mail it to your friends--that's copyright violation. So I'd vote for buying the bare minimum for closest family members (not even cousins), and taking your own portrait-like pic of the kid to e-mail around (and people can print them off if they want). You could also do a poll of aunts, uncles, and godparents, to see what size they'd like. I do 5x7s for mom & dad bcs that's what they want, 8x10s for ILs (ditto), and wallets or the slightly bigger ones for godparents and aunts&uncles. My SIL did have pics of nieces and nephews up at her house, stuck in the frame of her mirror, but no one that seemed to be just friends. I can see she might have friends' kids up for closest friends, the kids who FEEL like nieces and nephews.