So I looked at the specs for the Canons (A series, S series), and hey, look at all the controls on a compact P&S... Have to say I'm impressed. And Canon seems to be getting great reviews all around here in terms of noise & the such.

I have to say, one reason I did not opt for a Canon - other than that the low-end Canons were still higher priced than what I wanted to pay for a low-end P&S - is the numerous reports of the lense getting stuck in the "out" position - too numerous to ignore. That's one reason that if I'm going to buy a Canon, I want to buy it from a store, not a bargain web site.

If I find a good-priced Canon, I'll run some tests - see if it has the same focusing problem with fuzzy cats in front of crisp backgrounds (I'd think you really shouldn't have to manual focus).

- Yaron