My Olympus camera was about 2 and half years old so I had to get rid of it. It was way too buggy: (1) battery dying too quickly, (2) taking pictures took forever, (3) XD cards cost more and would corrupt every time I put it in a reader – lost 100+ photos this way, and (4) it was so bulky.

I opted for a Canon branded camera for a couple of reasons: (1) I have a Canon camcorder (ZR850), (2) great reviews, (3) affordable.

I bought the camera from Amazon so I could make use of my Prime membership ($75/year), plus it was cheaper there too. At a local Best Buy, it would have been $15 more plus tax. Amazon doesn’t charge tax!!!

Canon SD1000: $167
Kingston SD: $25
Lenmar extra battery: $14

Pros:

• Lightweight
• Small (fits in my tight jean pockets)
• SD cards (so cheap to buy, $25 for Kingston 4GB)
• Long lasting battery
• Color swap, color accent shooting modes
• Different shooting modes 
• Shoots video w/ 3 different settings
• Battery charges in 1 hour 30 mins (not that long)
• Easy to use interface
• Rechargeable battery only $15 or less (Lenmar)
• Interface is not sluggish at all
• Buttons are not hard to reach/find
• Start-up is less than 2 seconds
• 7.1 MP is more than enough
• Viewfinder (great for conserving battery life)

Cons:

• Runs on a rechargeable battery, not AAs
• Battery doesn’t charge in 15 mins like AAs
• Movies come out in .AVI, not .MOV
• Would not sync to my Mac (Leopard OS), had to buy SD card reader
• 30 fps at 640×480 video mode takes up a lot of SD space