Thomas; is this the kind of thing you want?

I have had my 505 for over a year now and it is one of my favourite tools/toys.

Its strengths are:
- good lens, with 5x zoom
- USB connection so download is easy and quick
- compact
- extra lenses are available fairly easily - I have a 2x doubler to push the zoom further and a wide angle fitting
- memory disk which is great if you have a Vaio laptop
- with a 32Mb card, I have got over 80 photos on (1600x1200)

Weaknesses are:
- 2.1 mega pixel tho the quality is fine for me
- no good for people with big hands or fat fingers - the controls are dainty
- colour saturation is usually too great
- slow to focus etc so action shots under automatic are impossible
- viewing is via screen only which is difficult in bright light
- Sony has not (yet) allowed you to update the software - the current 505 has a few tweaks and you would have thought that the software ones could be provided for older models

You will end up spending more money than the basic price; this is probably true with most other digital cameras. As well as the lenses, I have bought a memory stick reader for my non-Vaio PC, a second battery, a case (!), more memory sticks, and a tripod to allow me to use the zoom doubler.

If you have yet to buy a digital camera, you will find you use it a lot, even as a scanner(!). I tend to take lots of photos of the same thing and then select the best later - like these 10 rolls of film maniacs do.

www.thelondonhouse.co.uk