I bought a new camera.

I bought the Canon PowerShot A710 IS yesterday at KOJIM DENKI in Utsunomiya. It was six years ago when last time I bought a digital camera, Fujifilm FinePix 2800z. The time to buy a new one has come. I had been wondering if I should buy a SLR digital camera, Canon S3 IS or Canon PowerShot A710 IS for months.
The biggest disadvantage of A710 comparing to SLR digicam is that the shutter time lag of A710 is longer than that of SLR digicam.
The disadvantage of A710 comparing to S3 is that A710 has just 6x optical zoom on the contrary S3 has 12x optical zoom. I thought that all the other important features of A710 exceed competitors' for my photography style. Then I decided to buy the A710. The A710 has been working beautifully so far, though since only a day ago.

Basic Features of Canon PowerShot A710 IS
7.1-megapixel CCD 3,072 x 2,304 pixels
2.5-inch color LCD monitor
Real-image optical viewfinder
Glass, 6x 5.8-34.8mm lens (equivalent to 35-210mm zoom on a 35mm camera)
4.0x digital zoom
AiAF autofocus and a manual focus mode
AF Assist light for low-light focusing
Automatic, Program AE, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, and Manual exposure modes, as well as 10 preset Scene modes plus Stitch Assist
Manually adjustable aperture setting ranging from f/2.8 to f/8.0, depending on lens zoom position and shutter speed
Shutter speed range from 1/2,000 to 15 seconds, depending on aperture (Shutter times longer than 1 second only available in shutter-priority and manual exposure modes and some scene modes.)
Built-in flash with three operating modes plus red-eye reduction
SD/MMC memory storage

Left, long used film camera LEITZ minolta CL. Right, I bought it yesterday, Canon PowerShot A710 IS

I took the above picture using the A710; two daughters walked our rabbit Nobi at the park near my house.