I know the serious photographers will pooh pooh such a posting, but as someone who doesnt want to spend thousands of dollars and admittedly doesnt have the brain power to ever learn SLR settings etc(the manuals might as well be in greek...Im not sure they arent) I recently picked up a Nikon P510. It has 42x zoom...I find going to 30 for birds in flight is about the limit, although Ive pulled in some decent shots of very high birds at full zoom. It will never match the clarity(sharpness) of an SLR, but as Ive no delusions of granduer when it comes to my photos, Im very happy with what it can do.
There are many good point and shoots out there for a reasonable amount of money. All in for the P510 was $429. Just something different to think about for them that dont want to mortgage the house.
