Well, it would seem as if SOME camera companies are finally beginning to listen to the cries of discerning photographers everywhere: Wide angle is important!!!

For years, point-and-shoots (pocket digicams) have had the equivalent of a 35m, 36mm, or even 38mm lens on 35mm "full frame". This, as ANY and ALL of you advanced amateur and professional photographers should know, is HARDLY a passable excuse for true wide angle.

I've ranted about this for as long as I can remember. Lately though, I've been noticing more and more P&S cameras with at least a 28mm wide angle equivalent, and some more with 24/25mm even! Ricoh I believe has their ENTIRE lineup at least at 28mm. Panasonic just released some very decent P&S cameras, one that even has f/2.0 at the wide end and fully manual control... NICE!

They have also spoken of "limiting" the resolution. (albeit to 10 megapixels, which is still way too much for a P&S camera...) Hopefully we won't see MORE than 10 megapixels in these tiny size sensors, and eventually sensor technology will catch up and we'll be able to take good low-light pictures with P&S cameras someday... (Panasonic also has opted to use a slightly larger sensor, by the way...)

Now I can actually consider buying a P&S camera! I still have my eyes on the Olympus 1030 SW, just because it's "indestructible" so to speak...

Take care all, and thanks for reading!
=Matt=