Wanting another Camera…
Yes…I guess you could say I have enough cameras… I brought three with me to China:
- A ruggadized water/dust proof Pentax Optio 43wr
- An easily pocketable Sony T-100
- A powerful zoom Canon S1-IS
I find that I use my S1 the most for when I am traveling to places and want to take clear pictures. Even though it takes less than half the megapixels of my Sony T-100 (3.2 mega pixels vs 8 mega pixels), I find the images are clearer & focused properly, this in part to a better lens & larger CCD (sensor).
You can read more about this detail at:
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/biztech/articles/070615/15digitalphoto.htm
http://www.panohelp.com/themegapixelsmyth.html
While I’ve been mostly happy with my Canon S1, its becoming more apparent the more I use it and reviewing the pictures afterwards that its pictures are just “OK”, I’m finding that I do a lot of cropping lately & I’m also beginning to notice more Chromatic Aberrations (CA)/Purple Fringing than I like.
More about CA/Purple Fringing can be read here:
http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/key=chromatic+aberration
At first the Canon S3 looks like it would fit the bill. It has 6 megapixels and a slightly larger sensor (1/2.5 vs 1/2.7). I didn’t really consider the S5 as it uses the same sensor, but just makes it work harder to get its 8 megapixels which would just make the photo look worse…
However after more thought, I don’t think the S3 would have that much less Chromatic Aberrations than the S1, it would just allow me to crop more…Then I bump into the Sony DSC-R1
This seems like the ideal camera (as much as I hate Sony), it has a very large sensor (5x the size of the S3, equivalent to most Digital Single Lens Reflex –DSLR cameras), comes with a very good lens & has a cool rotating LCD similar to my S1 that I’ve come to love. Only problem, is that Sony quit making them last year (this camera was Sony’s stepping stone into the DSLR market), and on the used market, its not uncommon to see them go for a higher price than their MSRP of $900 USD 
Now I’m somewhat in the boat of looking at an entry level DSLR with a good lens. Right now I’m looking at the Nikon D40 or maybe the D40x with their 18-200mm Vibration Reduction lens…this option is however pretty pricey, and the funds would probably be better spent on traveling right now :-/
