Another VERY important considerateion when sinking big dough into digital cameras is thier relativley slow exposure times. If you are familiar with film cameras, you know what the difference between 100ASA and 1000ASA film is. Most digital cameras are like 65 ASA or so. This can make getting good hand-held shots with the 10X zoom cameras almost impossible. You need lots of light and/or a tripod for good results. If long shots are a requirement, stick with film and get a negative scanner if you need digital copies. Having said all of that, digital cameras are still very cool!
I'm on my 13th digital camera and am finding that latley the Canon's have the least objectionable amount of shutter delay.
Great info regarding all current cameras can be found at
www.stevesdigicams.com and
www.imaging-resource.com