advice on getting a digital camera

Hi,

I have been shooting pictures for some time now, no professional work though nor any plans of being a pro. Until now I was using the older olympus OM4T and was very happy with it. I feel that now that I lack a darkroom or time to use one. I would rather have a digital camera.

I would like to know what kinda to get, here is what I want from it.

- Smaller camera with a good choice light weight lenses

- Durability and ability to operate in harsh conditions (extreme cold, snow, dust, etc...)

- High quality prints that I can enlarge to at least 11x14

- If I spend alot on this camera, I want to be able to use it for a while.

- Long battery life, (days without ability to recharge)

I plan on using this camera mostly when I travel, right now a trip to Africa to climb Mt. Kenya and Kilimanjaro is planned. I will also be travelling to Alaska for more climbing in addition to some army training.

If you have any tips for what to bring to africa aside from the camera that would be helpful also.

Thanks,

Mike

oh and ive kinda eying the olympus e1, though it is kinda expensive - i like the weather proofing element

I guess you need a compact camera , easy to carry, not to worry, not heavy, use a pocket or ...
Then I suggest one of the latest Canon Powershots. I have two of them - A10 and A80.
They both produce very high quality images. And with A80 I print 8x10.
I have now Rebel XT, 8 mpx, but it's not small compare to Powershots.
Besides, the new Powershots are of the same quality and you can have at least 6 Mpx and more in a small compact camera. Just check the www.canonusa.com website to see which ones are the newest ones with 6-8 mpx and then check www.cnet.com and www.pcworld.com and this website for reviews.
Trust me, you'll be happy with Powershot or any other Canon compact camera.
And one more thing. "point and Shoot" is a wrong name for these cameras, because you have all the control on how you want to shoot - Aperture Priority, Shutter priority, Manual, Program, Automatic...plus more.

I guess my hesistation on getting a compact is not so much whether or not they have manual controls but rather the image quality. While I understand they have a similiar mp rating, from looking at photos taken with them it seems to me that the dslrs have an overall better quality to the picture - maybe I am wrong about this?

Obviously I dont want a huge camera with tons of lenses to lug around, but I also dont want to find myself with an amazing picture of some place that I may never go to again later to realize that the quality of the picture isnt great. If those compacts can solve that problem I'm sold. Alternatively I was considering picking up a cheap rebel then maybe adding a tiny compact like one of the exilim series.

Any comments would be great.