Very good points. I just bought my first digital. It's a Canon Powershot
A70. While not as small as the Elph, it does fit in my pocket and I take it
just about everywhere. Portability is a bigger factor than most people
realize. But there are times when it just doesn't get quite as much as I'd
like it to. What really tempts me about the Rebel is the capability of using
an image stabilized lens. While not quite as good as a gyro platform, it's
got to be a great help. Have to find out more. And I think you'll find that
for aerial shots, the clearest days are also the bumpiest. It's the nature
of the beast. It's fairly rare, at least around here, to get a clear AND
calm day at the altitudes I like to shoot from. Another thing to consider is
that with a 6 meg camera set to highest resolution (why shoot anything
less?), you're going to need a big card. My CAP unit has a Kodak 6 meg
camera with a 1 gig card in it. I think it's good for about 300 shots, but I
don't know if that's at highest res. Didn't get to play with it much. Don't
know how much a 1 gig card goes for either.

mike regish

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:tKkjb.140986$%h1.140943@sccrnsc02...
Canon just came out with a 6 megapixel "SLR" digital that will use all
of
the Canon lenses from their 35mm line. This includes sever image
stabilized
lenses/ I've seen it for $899 with a 55-80mm lens. That is slightly
longer
than it would be on 35mm due to the imaging chip's size. You can have
something like 50 or 60 lenses to chose from. It's the Canon EOS-300D
Digital Rebel.

That's a great deal, on a great sounding camera, but I want to throw
something in the mix he Convenience.

I used to own a Nikon SLR. All the bells and whistles, all the lenses.
The
pictures it took were stunning.

I never used it.

Well, I shouldn't say "never" -- but it was so big and unwieldy that I
never
caught that candid shot at the birthday party, or that image of the fall
colors on my way to work. It was just too danged big to be considered
"portable", and it was a major production to get it set up.

That's why we went with the Canon Elph a couple of years ago, even though
photographically there were superior choices. The danged little thing
actually, REALLY fits in your shirt pocket, has a useful little zoom lens,
easy to use controls, and takes pretty darned good pictures. (All the
pictures on our website were taken with it.)

Best of all, it's ALWAYS in my top pocket, or Mary's purse, waiting to be
used... When it breaks, I'm buying another one. (They've now got it up
to
4 megapixels, I think...)

Just something else to consider.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"