I need a new camera.  I’ve had this one for a few years, and I’ve loved it.  The only feature it’s missing is that super-fast sports mode.  And since, you know, we’re so sporty around here, I’m wondering if my new camera should be able to do this, so not all of my action shots look like this:

On the other hand, although I love taking pictures of my kids, I have no aspirations to be a real photographer.  I can hardly keep up with a blog, much less with a dazzling photography career.  In addition, don’t have any desire to have to learn about different kinds of lenses or to figure out how to focus my own lens for goodness sakes.  Point and shoot, friends, I’m all about it!

But because I dropped it on the pavement for some reason, my camera isn’t working very well right now.  Okay, it’s not really working at all.  First, it took every picture in blurry mode.  (NO, they were not action shots, but thank you for asking.)  Now, the viewfinder is just black.  If you click, however, it will still reward you with a fine, blurry picture.  I’m thinking ahead, here, and I’m just guessing that a Christmas filled with blind, blurry photos isn’t exactly what I’m after.

And, so, the shopping begins.  And I’m stumped.  Do I go for something a little fancier, and get the faster sports-friendly shutter speed?  Or do I stick with what I know, what fits nicely in my purse, and live with a blurry shot in the scrapbook every now & then?  I think both of these cameras are cute, but I’m not sure “cute” is the best criteria for this particular purchase.  Shoes, sure.  Camera, not so much…

So will you help?  Help!  Please offer any and all opinions, so when we look back on Christmas 2008, it won’t be through the blurry lens of my broken Canon Powershot sd550!