New Camera?

A few weeks ago my trusty cannon point and shoot digital camera finally decided to die. I've had it for five years now, so I knew the end was coming, but I was hoping it could hang in there for a little longer... Over the past few weeks Aaron and I have tried to flesh out exactly what we want to use our camera for, and how we would improve on our last one. Given that I purchased an ez cube earlier this year, I certainly want to be taking digital images of my work. I'm hearing more and more about how shooting in raw format is helpful for digital slides, and I'd also like a decent macro feature. On the fun side of things, we're both suckers for the video function, and would love playing with a bigger zoom. So, after some poking around and reading lots of reviews, we're down to two cameras: the Cannon Powershot S5 IS and the Olympus SP-560. I'm leaning toward the Olympus, given the ability of that model to shoot in raw format (and that out-of-control 18x zoom!), but the Cannon has a larger sensor size and faster shutter speed. Hmmm.... hard to decide! I think we just need to find a store where we can go try them both out and see what we like up close and personal.

And when it comes to actually getting good shots of my work, I've found a few great sources of information recently. One being Fresh Plums by John Glick and the other a post on a blog I read called the Mudpot. Both have some good info and a few book suggestions which I will definitely have to check out as I have more work to photograph!