I too did a ton of research before I got mine (also a sony F707)I'm totally satisfied with the 707, though it did cost a bit. A few things to watch for in a digital camera: Meagapixels - Very important, this directly relates to how much you can blow up your prints without getting that jaggie look. High quality lense - Carl Zeiss, Cannon, Nikon, be sure to get a good lense on it, if you skimp on quality here then no matter how good the rest of the camera is your pictues will not turn out well. Optical zoom is always better than digital zoom. Optical zoom doesn't sacrifise your image resolving power like a digital zoom does. Color - All digital cameras pick up color differently, some have more saturation than others, such as with a particular camera the color red for example, will appear stronger than it should be, while blue will be weak..some of this can be fixed with postwork, but its nice to have a decend color balance in the first place. Get a camera with as many white balance options as possible. Power - Be sure to get one with a rechargeable battery pack, if you don't you'll go through batteries like water...and that cost can add up in a hurry. I think over at tomshardware.com had some reviews on digital cameras a while back...read reviews, look at the pictues, test out the camera if you can, and then make your decision. Best of luck -Modulok-