[mchud]

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions. I got so caught up in the holidays and didn't check back until today, so it wasn't that I was unappreciative, I just spaced it. I will get some pictures up from my Canon in the next day or so you can see what I'm talking about. Thanks again to all of you.

[Clicker]

Panasonic TZ5 but planning on replacing it with either or both G11 or S90

[mchud]

Here are a few examples. 2 from outside and 1 inside with flash. I just feel like they are constantly "soft" and blurry or washed out and I haven't been able to fix it in the camera and I don't want to have to edit every single picture, but I'd like them to turn out nice enough to like them.

[Prairie Dog]

Have mentioned it before, but I greatly enjoy my FujiFilm FinePix F200EXR. It goes where a DSLR won't go, produces great images, fits in a pocket, and is relatively reasonably priced.

[Clicker]

I think you'll be happy with a Canon S90 but if there is a budget SD940i is another good performer. You'll need to hold one some people with large hands avoid these newer P&Ss because they're too small.
With the newer P&S, you have face/smile detection so focus points aren't as unpredictable, sensors are nice and quick especially the Canon's Digi 4

[keyser]

Yeah, those examples you posted pretty much look like what I'd expect from a P&S with a small sensor. The first 2 are soft and the last one is out of focus (the camera focussed on the bench)

[Ratmagiclady]

Here are a few examples. 2 from outside and 1 inside with flash. I just feel like they are constantly "soft" and blurry or washed out and I haven't been able to fix it in the camera and I don't want to have to edit every single picture, but I'd like them to turn out nice enough to like them.

Hrm. Those do look rather soft. I wonder if perhaps you're missing focus or if something's out of whack. (Couldn't be anything like the wrong Jpeg sharpening or a custom image mode doing it, could it? )

I suppose one question might be do you ever, or have you ever, gotten good sharpness?

As for the washed-outness with the built-in flash, I actually like to keep that dialed back at least a little, (just be careful about pushing your range.) ...it seems those just like to throw rather too much when you get closer to your subjects, which I often do.

[mchud]

Ratmagiclady- I have gotten some sharp ones, just not as consistently as I'd like. I mean, I know I'm used to an SLR image, but like the images from PFH and mtroute I would NEVER get out of mine. Like I said earlier, I look back at my images from 7 years ago on our 2 MP Canon and I often times wish I had it back! Guess I need to go shoppin'! I am constantly having issues with the focusing where it just won't and I have to line it all up again and hold the button half way down, sometimes more than once, just to get it to focus. Doesn't work well with kids! I don't even know if I can "dial back the flash". I'll have to look into that. And I don't even know how you can change the jpeg sharpening. How do you do that? Thanks for the recommendations all of you. Appreciate it.

[awo425]

Just got G11 for my whife as Cristmas gift.
Image quality is veary good, from ISO 80 to 400, and then satisfactory from 400 to 1600 with increasing noise. Lens is reasonably sharp. Screen is awsome, user controls are even better. I also played with S90 for a few days, both cameras are very good.

[mtroute]

the first thing I do in all my digi-cams is to select center-point focus. The gimmicky and completely useless "face detection" never works consistently