I've been looking at this camera myself, and compared it to the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ5.

The Panasonic is smaller and takes a lithium battery.

The Canon is larger, but is more sturdy, has a rotating screen, and takes AA batteries (some see this as a positive, others as a negative).

Both use SD memory, though that is cheap now, so that does not matter too much.

Both have 12 X optical zoom. I like these as a second camera, as they are too bulky to carry around all the time (the Elphs are great for that).

I am not sure when Canon will release an S3-IS, with perhaps a 7 MP sensor, but 5 MP should be plenty for most. The camera did reportedly have some problems, but I believe these have been addressed. It's still quite popular.

I think I'll bite the bullet soon and go with the Canon. My Elph took great pictures (and still does, though with a cracked LCD, I cannot review the images until I download them).

Here are a couple of links to check out:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons2is/
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/read...key=canon_s2is

Fuzz