I would consider a Fuji S9000/S9500 or a Kodak P880 as alternative to the Coolpix 8800. Both have had great critics (owns a P880 myself). Both are a 1/2 or 1 "generation more mature" than the 8800, solving some major problems with especially noise. The P880 is however still a "slow" camera, prefering a lot of light/low ISO-settings. I think most critics would say the D50 (dSLR cameras in general) is the better camera. The problem is however the price and the weight of the "total package", i.e. camera plus extra lences etc. I had/have a Pentax film SLR, but love my P880 for being small, transportable, and still handling :cool:most situations. Also I find that the electronic viewfinder makes imagecomposition easy. DaM