My new digital camera. . . five years later. . .

About five years ago for Christmas, Jarrod gave me a digital camera. . . .well kind of. He gave me a picture of a digital camera and told me I could go pick one out and he would buy it for me. Well, at that time a 8 or 9 mp camera was like $400 and up! And I so (being the nice person I am) I never took him up on the offer. A couple of years ago I "borrowed" by Dad's camera and have never given it back. Ha! (my mom got him a new camera for father's day!) So,  knowing I needed a new camera (of my own) with more options,  I have been researching digital cameras for several weeks now. Determined to find the best bang for my buck.  I thought at first I wanted a digital SLR, but when I thought about it, I just wouldn't use it enough to justify the cost. Those are too big to carry in my purse all the time, like I like to do! I decided the most practical thing for me to do right now is to buy a nicer compact camera.  I knew I wanted a camera with a wide angle lens and there aren't very many in the "compact class" that has that option! I narrowed it down to two, the Sony Cybershot DSC-W170 or the Canon Powershot SD870 IS.  I did some (ok, a lot) of research on the internet and read a few (ok, a lot of) customer reviews. When it came down to it, CNET ranked the Canon as best 8 & 9 megapixel digital camera, so it was in the lead. Then I went to Sears to get some hands on perspective. I played with a few of the cameras, but I had some questions. . . so, after waiting an hour for some help, I gave up and went to Circuit City. And it must have been my lucky day because they had the Canon model I was interested in on sale! And then. . . it just keeps getting better!!. . . I found out they were selling the floor model (without a box) for $60 off the sale price!!  I don't have to tell you what I decided to do, do I?? I was in and out within a half hour with a new camera (and an extra battery and memory card)!  It has all the options I want, and lots of options that I don't have a clue how to use!  The design is a little retro, a throw-back to the first Canon ELPH's, but I love it! The only thing so far that I am not crazy about is the large screen, it shows finger prints really easy! (But I guess they are all like that) and it doesn't have a viewfinder, but who really uses that anymore anyway?!?!

I am going to try to take some pics at Jarrod's game tonight. . . stay tuned!