Easy to use and hold like my Olympus 3040 with higher zoom for sports

I am not a photographer. Have had good results for past 4 years with my Olympus 3040. I would like to be able to zoom in on airshows and Radio Control model airplanes in flight without going to the foot long expensive lens cameras some of my friends have.

Steven,

The Canon S2 and S3 IS will do quite well with outdoor action photography in good light. The long, stabilized zoom would be very helpful with shooting airplanes in flight, though you may find their focus lag to be a small bump in the road. In my experience (I own an S2 IS), they take up to half a second to "lock on" to their subject if it's a significant distance away. You'll have to learn to anticipate your shot a little, something you wouldn't have to do with a film or digital SLR.

The picture quality, however, is fantastic, and they both have tons of manual control features to help you get the best out of your rig.

There are several cameras that are similar to the S2 and S3 (huge, stabilized zoom) that you might want to consider. Panasonic offers their Lumix FZ-series (FZ4, FZ5, FZ20, FZ30, FZ50) and Sony offers the CyberShot H-series (H2, H5).