Seems like the latest rage in digital cameras is changeable lenses with zoom in the optics. I would think that to be the ticket. I have a toshiba 3.2 mpixel and love it, but it doesn't have the changeable lense option. Best I can say is get the highest resolution you can afford. Its way easyier to cut down an image than to increase it. Also, if you do get a high resolution camera, you'll need a farely large card. I have a 32m card that holds about 25 images at 2048x1536x72. If you're going to shoot that size, or larger to get it converted to 1024x768x300, etc, then you would want at least a 64 if not a 128 card. Since the cards cost money, and you are bugeting, sounds like you'll want to not buy one of the 5mpixel cameras and merely get a smaller one with a larger card. I did see some camera that hold a mini cd in them so that's worth looking at, but I havent tried them yet. To recap, three most important features are 1. large mpixel ability, 2. Lense options and 3. card size/upgrade. Have fun.