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Yeah. It's stuck in my head.

I've been thinking about upgrading our existing camera for a while now. It's an Olympus C-2020Z and it's a great little camera. We've had it for a long time and have taken countless pictures with it. Peg and I both love the camera and we knew it would take a really special camera to fill its shoes. What I really want is a DSLR, but I don't want to completely give up the whole point-and-shoot convenience either. I know... apples and oranges. So I've decided if I must have an apple and an orange, then I would buy an apple and an orange. I know different cameras were meant to serve different purposes and I'm okay with that.

So while I am still undecided about which DSLR camera I really want, I decided to focus on replacing our beloved Olympus. First off... I will say I am not necessarily brand loyal (though I do love that old Olympus). In this "point-and-shoot" camera, there are features that we really liked and wanted to keep. For one, the Olympus used AA sized batteries and we liked the convenience of using either rechargeable batteries or in a pinch, regular alkaline batteries. We also really rather liked the pictures that the Olympus produced, so whatever camera we chose to replace it, would have to be at least as good. After so many years of advancements in digital photography, one would think this shouldn't be too tall an order. There are also some areas on which we wanted some improvement. The first of which were in the areas of optical zoom and resolution. The C-2020Z afforded us with 3x and 2.1 megapixels. That was really something back in 2000, but six years later? One final thing that I personally wanted, was an LCD that could be adjusted to see at different angles. It's nice to be able to take pictures from different heights and angles and still be able to see the LCD.

So I'm sitting there browsing through dealnews.com and I notice this sale for a Canon PowerShot S2 IS. Through Jan 12th, you can pick one up at Dell.com for $399.00. Sweeeeeeeet! We picked one up and can't wait to start using it. It takes AAs, just like our old Olympus. It has an optical zoom of 12x and more than twice the resolution at 5 megapixels. It even has the swivel LCD that I wanted. One thing that it does NOT have that I will miss very dearly from our beloved Olympus is a wireless (infrared) remote control. Why not every camera comes with this is beyond me. It's such a useful feature, but one I guess we will have to live without... at least with this camera. There are other improvements as well, ie: the movie feature. It's a new chapter indeed.

Check out the comparison below...

Title:	Olympus C-2020Z vs Canon PowerShot S2 IS
Description:	Out with the old and in with the new!

The jury's still out on my DSLR selection. I'm taking a hard look at the Nikon D200, though Shelby (my brother-in-law, and huge fan of Canon cameras) is encouraging me to wait until Feb/Mar when it is expected that Canon will release their answer to Nikon's D200, with their own EOS 30D. Should I wait?

By the way... if you ever want to see lots of very thorough camera reviews, you may find them at Digital Photography Review. It's obvious that Phil Askey, (Editor, Webmaster & Author of DPR) puts a lot of time, thought, and effort into his site. Another site I have really come to enjoy is KenRockwell.com. Lotsa good, practical information there and some good reviews too. Ken's making it hard to not consider the D200.

One last link before I call it a night. I mentioned my brother-in-law and his affinity for Canon. He's also a professional photographer in NYC. If any of you could use one for whatever reason, please look him up. Check out Shelby Chan Photography. I might be biased, but he's really very good.

Hope yours was warm, happy, and safe.