Helping you out was no trouble, Shamrock. Glad I could be of service.

Well, personally I'd lean for the A95, hence why I got one on my desk right now. It has an integratedlens cover, but it is not as nice as what I have seen of the E550... but I am not you and don't have the same needs as you... I'd suggest you go try the cameras in a shop to see their size, how good they feel in your hands... Also, I suggest you give a look at the G6 and S60(or S70), depending on your budget of course.

Keep in mind that if you find the camera too big you probably won't carry it with u, so it won't be a good buy. If you don't feel comfortable with it in your hands, you may not take as good pictures as you'd want to.

RAW is more than just an uncompressed image, I am not the best to explain this since I have never used it. But keep in mind that if you plan to do lots of post processing then it is the way to go. With it you can almost take a scene which was photographed and modify your picture after it was taken to get the most details out of it. Of course this is time consuming and it is a choice you have to make.

But here is what I must say, don't buy a camera without getting your hands on it... Some cameras look great on paper but take terrible pictures or they just look the perfect size but just can't fit in your hands. Some people say the A95 is TOO heavy, well I say finally a camera big enough for me, yet small enough to be compact.

OK, thanks Nicalos. Some great advice. I would like the RAW after all - I like to jiggle with the pictures. I'll check out these other cameras and go get the feel of all of them.

Thanks to all who have helped me.

SHAMROCK

Hi!

I used your post in helping me to determine which camera to buy.

I purchased the Fuji E550 and now regret it... see my post:

http://www.stevesforums.com/forums/v...mp;forum_id=87

To be on the trip of a lifetime and have this happen would be EXTREMELY frustrating.

Which camera did you buy and how is it working for you?

I'm back to the drawing board.

Thanks for your post and everyone's response.