canon, all the way. the lens quality is excellent, the useability is great. they're just really fine cameras. i have an slr that i use for journalism and my little dinky digital for everyday, and i love both. i'd say go for the canon powershot a series (a75, a85, etc). any one of those would be terrific, it's just a matter of how many cool features you want (the higher the number, the more megapixels / features). i like the a series better than the s/d series because while it's slightly larger, the zoom is better and it's easier to use (no HOLY CRAP TINY BUTTONS).