Canon Powershot A540

i have had this camera for some time now and have no complaints at all. it is inexpensive, yet produces high quality images. and it makes relative novices in the photographic world look good. most of my pictures on this site are with this camera. i have beat it up a lot too. took it winter camping, froze and thawed it a few times, still worked like a charm. i highly recommend it to anyone, of any skill level with a camera.

**UNFORTUNATE UPDATE**
My A540 suffered a fatal injury in Washington when it was exposed to a few grains of sand too many at Rialto Beach. Farewell little buddy, it was fun while it lasted...

I have the A640-- bought it back around Christmas and started using it in the spring. It has many of the same features as the 540 but has 10 mp. I used it as a hiking and climbing camera instead of my SLR this summer and got great shots that I think are comparable to what most people get with an SLR. I missed the control that the SLR gives, and I sometimes wanted a wider angle and a lens hood, but I have no real complaints. The only small complaint I have is that the more one zooms in, the more the picture taken doesn't match the view seen through the eyepiece, so it sometimes is better to shoot closer subjects by using the LCD screen. On the other hand, the macro feature is WAY better than that on any SLR I've seen and takes as good picures as my macro lens does.

Another plus-- the camera runs on AA batterries (4). This is very convenient when out in the mountains because a spare set of batteries eliminates the worry about a battery pack dying down and the hassle of charging when camping-- many rechargeable battery packs require very expensive devices to allow in-car charging. Also, the batteries last surprisingly long, much longer than the battery in my D-SLR.

An SLR is nicer, of course, but the smaller size of this camera is a big plus-- much bang for the buck (about $250 when I got it).