I am going travelling and have a wish list: Good optical zoom, image stabilisation, fairly compact (so that will actually take it places/conceal it), good picture quality from novice user. Any suggestions?

I also would like to know; are xD cards that slow in comparison to SD cards? How much optical zoom can I compensate for in having a more pixels (higher MP camera). Current top runners are (bad points in brackets) Olympus 750 (xD card no manual settings), Canon A700IS (larger size and feels plasticy), Cannon SD800IS (only 4 x Optical zoom, plus a friend of a friend has one and doesn't like it), Samsung NV7OPS (the lens may stick out too far), Panasonic DMC-TZ1, (lower MP, a bit chunky), Fujifilm FE200 (xD card), Ricoh Caplio R5 (doesn't get good reviews), Nikon Coolpix S10 (poss too big/poor reviews), Kodak V610 (gets poor reviews). The main trouble I am having is that none of the camera shops seem to stock these new models so I cannot actually get my hands on them!

When I mention size, I am going areas in South American cities where I do not want to have a camera dangling around my neck and would prefer it to fit in my trouser pockets.

Hi, I noticed that your question hasn't been responded to yet. Are you still looking for an answer? If so, I recommend you re-submit it on www.DigitalCamera-HQ.com, so it will have a better chance of being noticed. These days it looks like most questions are being answered within a few days. Good luck!