I agree w/ the idea getting camera that you'd actually use day to day versus looking at it from a spec standpoint.
I used to use an Olympus 2020 that had almost NO shutter lag and it was great at 2 Meg. However, I slowly stopped using it because it was too big to carry. I wanted a camera that I didn't have to think about bringing. So I went w/ a Canon S410. Good camera, relatively cheap compact flash cards that can be read on my PC for faster downloads. Not too concerned about the proprietary battery, I just bought a 2nd one so I'd always have a charged one. No issues there. The biggest problem is the shutter lag, it's pretty bad. I have to prepare myself if I want to take impromptu pix.
Canon's are fine, but if you do research, I'd recommend trying to find the smallest shutter lag. Sony's can be small but the Memory Stick is $$. The Casio Exoslims are very small and have great screens. And Kodak will be coming out w/ an EasyShare camera w/ built in wifi. Why is that good? Because you can print directly from the camera, wireless.
