Help choosing a digital camera...

[acme54321]

I've been looking for a digital camera and there are so many choices out there. I'm looking for something between $300-400 and around 4 mp. I'll be using the camera for mountain biking shots, nature scenes, and taking pictures of people. I want an optical zoom and the more features the better, like some manual modes ect. Size is sort of an issue as I want to carry the camera on mountain bike rides.

I was looking at these cameras:

Canon Powershot A80
http://www.pcphotoreview.com/pscCame...8_4337crx.aspx

Olympus C750 Ultra Zoom
http://www.pcphotoreview.com/pscCame...9_4337crx.aspx

Canon Poweshot S400
http://www.pcphotoreview.com/pscCame...8_4337crx.aspx

Are these good cameras for what I'm looking for, are there any others I should look at and what would you choose?

[CTPhil]

Deciding how much zoom you want will help narrow down the choices. The ones you list have widely different zoom capabilities, making the comparison hard to make.

[acme54321]

I like optical zoom capabilities but picture quality and features are probably more important.

[ejm]

I like optical zoom capabilities but picture quality and features are probably more important.

I am not a expert but I narrowed my choices down to the Canon S! IS and the Panasonic FZ3. That is until I cam accross the preverbial too good to be true deal on eBay. I won a bid on a Panasonic FZ20.

Regards