In terms of zoom, the only real number to consider is the optical zoom since digital zoom is what you do when you resize an image ... same number of pixels but in a larger space ... like blowing up an image on the xerox machine. Until recently there were few cameras (Olympus) with more than 3 or 4 x optical zoom. I have been using an older Olympus with 10x zoom and it is wonderful ... it is only a 2 mp camera (but fine for 5x7 prints and even 8x10 is not bad) but now you can get 3 and 4 mp cameras from Fuji, Olympus, Panasonic, Minolta with 10-12x optical zoom for as little as $400 and these get good reviews.

If you like taking scenery then consider getting a serious zoom.

Harold Goldstein Highland, Md, USA