As someone who is looking very hard at the EOS 10-D and leaving the film world altogether, I am in agreement with your general advice on SLRs. However, some of the difficulty digital camera users have getting action shots is that they don't know how to use the features of the camera they have. On the Canon ELPH series (and many/most autofocus cameras) you can depress the shutter button halfway to obtain focus and apeture lock. Once this is done, you can hold the button halfway until you are ready and then you can depress the shutter fully to take the pic instantly. I use this trick all the time for candids of children, who can't usually be relied on to do the same thing twice otherwise.