Getting back to the subject at hand, yes, when you buy a Mercedes, you expect it to do everything and "almost drive itself". That last thing is what I'm after. The point I was making about this camera (without going into photo foreign language here) is that 1) it has a zoom like no other digital single lens camera on the market right now, so at least worth taking a look and 2) it means you don't have to tote around 25lbs of lenses to get a close-up shot of a bird, a seal, a penguin, or a wide shot of a group of friends around a table, whatever, after you have changed from one lens to another. I am not vying to be published in National Geographic! I want EASY! BUT it remains to be seen what the reviews are, so I will just wait. Still funny to read those debates on dpreview. What a bunch of know-it-alls over there before the product is even delivered!

I think the best thing this camera is going to do (because it really is forging new grounds for the Ultra-Zoom/Wide Angle fanciers among us) is force Canon and Nikon and whatever others are in the Cadillac/Mercedes league (rather than Pinto) is to give some thought to what we mid-range price consumers want to buy! We must be their largest market, don't you think? I read so many comments on the Canon board about them not being consumer friendly. e.g. people being so burnt that they took RAW out of the G7 Kathy mentioned. But then, the same people are the naysayers about Olympus as well. Who knows, maybe it is like some of us Regent passengers dissing Oceania when they have never tried it!

Wendy, let me know if you find a new model of Stylus that has a viewfinder! For now, I have solved my "pocket camera" dilemma that had me searching for a new one. So for now, I am going to be happy with my little Sony (with 7.2 mega pickles) and my Fuji Finepix (oh! maybe only 3 or 4)