Whew....what a day at the office. I work at a small university and the students are just now returning from holiday and we ARE NOT READY for them to return!!!!! But, we will be....we always are. Gosh....I can't believe its been nearly a year since I posted this message. Anyhoo, the camera is a good friend and pal now and not so new anymore. When I posted this message I had been using regular batteries, not rechargeable...hey, I was a total novice!!!! They lasted for about 50 pix...LOL. Got a charger and some rechargeable Everreadys the day after my post....gotten 5 more since then. Just got a new charger and more new batteries for Christmas, too. So....now I want the 1.5 teleconverter lens and some other goodies. This little point and shoot seems to do a pretty decent job with birds....had my doubts in the beginning. My brother-in-law is into photography big time and said it was a "so-so" camera but probably not really good for wildlife photography. For petes sake; I wasn't trying out for National Geographic.....I just wanted a "good enough" camera so I could take a decent picture of a bird and take it to someone and ask, "Do you know what kind of bird this is?".....And it does that....and more. I've gotten some pretty decent shots with it and am totally satisfied with the camera. I still haven't played with a lot of the settings and haven't really experimented with the video taking part yet. But, I'm happy with the results. My husband also got me (in addition to those much needed new batteries and charger) a Canon Selphy photo printer so now I can print some of my own photos. Its a pretty neat little gadget and really simple to use.....(and it was on sale!!!) I am quite pleased with this little camera. The only drawback for me is the bulk of the camera. Sometimes I wish it was a little more compact and easier to slip in and out of a cargo pocket. Other than that its perfect for what I want it for and takes pretty good pix. Now to see if the old budget will let me get that converter and lens. Gail....thanks so much for the heads up on the eBay items....in fact I'm heading there now to check out some things. Bob....your crow is beautiful....especially navigating to the suet log. I love crows....we have 5 that sorta "hang out" here in the neighborhood, you know, just terrorizing the Coopers and the Red-tails....what a treat when their around. Thanks to you both....... ~Kathy~

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

Hi Patti - I posted about the Canon S3 - it is $199. They are completely differnt cameras. The A570 is a smaller camera. It has a 4x zoom. The S3 has a 12x zoom. I looked on Amazon - and a new one is going for $150. I am sure you can find it cheaper than that, but $70 is good if the camera has not been used much. Take some batteries with you (it takes AA) and power up the camera several times in quick sucession to see if it comes up fast. It should power up very fast. I don't know if you can check to see the images on a computer - that would be good. I am pretty sure this camera has the same chip as my S3. It is fast and it takes some great video. The video is awesome - so nice to be able to take the small camera instead of a huge one. I have a A550 - pretty much the same camera. It is a great smaller camera. What size are the SD cards? You can buy 1GB for less than $10. You don't want anything smaller than a 1GB. The camera itself comes with a 16MB - that will only hold 2 or 3 pictures...so watch the size of the card - you want that number to have a GB not a MB behind it :)

I owe you big time Iowagirl!!! Thank you so much for your help recovering 996 pictures all raw from my card. I ALWAYS take pictures off my card and put them on an external hard drive and burn them too on discs. My laptop is at our summer home as I was there for a few weeks just editing pictures. I knew some were there but didn't know where I stopped downloading them. Right now I have two cards neither will work in the camera and they both say they need to be reformatted...it doesn't work tried several times. It also doesn't matter as I will take the camera in for a cleaning which I do yearly, never had any problems with it in four years and have taken well over 20,000 pics in the past 15 years. New cards are nothing in price compared to some of those recovered pictures. I am going to try and post just a fun one. Again a million thank you very muches?? Oh well you know what I mean even if it isn't a word.!!!!!