Looking for some camera advice

[pepper_airborne]

Looks pretty nice too me, go with what you feel comfortable!

[FsNovice]

yeah, this one feels nice and solid but not chunky, if you know what i mean. And i have worked out it will only take me 8 weeks to have enough to buy it with all the bells and whistles, like 2gb card, carry case and camera cleaning kit!!!! Whoop

[Rifleman]

If you also see an sp570 along with the 560 you mentioned, you may be surprised at the 20x zoom factor, but don't be too misled by the zoom factor. A total zoom factor of 10x doesn't necessarily mean the objects will appear 10 times closer....what it means is that from the widest angle to the longest telephoto, will be 10x......for a 35mm equivalent explanation, a normal lens of 50-55 mm will be a normal eye view. Because of that, the wide angle of 28 mm will be about half of normal or twice as far away as what you see. Hence a 28-80mm will yield a zoom factor of approx 3 times, but in actuality the effective telephoto increase (magnification) will be only 1.5:1 over what you normally see..........

I hope this isn't too confusing, but I know there are many folks out there who get taken in by total zoom factor and not the total increase of magnifcation over normal viewing.  8-)