I've had three off brand batteries for two Canon cameras, two good and one a waste, it's rolling the dice, Bob.
I think I like the 50 the best, for use though I think I would lean toward the 16-85, Bob.
I thought their pro level included the ability to sell on their site. Perhaps what you need is to drive purchasers rather than lookers to your site, always a problem in selling anything.
Arnold, I just looked at your site, since you are already on smugmug why not just upgrade to their pro level?
I have a T1is also, make sure iIS and auto focus is on, set focus point to center only, put that point on the most important person, ISO greater than 800, white balance auto, if not fast action Raw + Jpeg fine, check your display as you shoot, the RAW files will let you adjust color while converting, I use the included Canon software for Raw conversion, works great, Good Luck and enjoy, Bob.
Arnold, for a start on #6, if your getting 10,000 hits a month go for it, then do the other venues, they can only help. Bob.
Film is dying, both cost and inconvience the factors, digital provides much faster feedback for improving one's skills, I shot a lot of film, now getting ready to give the cameras away. Bob.
If you are dealing with a point and shoot , esp if the need is temporary, try turning the camera upside down, press the shutter with your left thumb, in film days there was the exacta, a left handed camera. Bob.
Relax, enjoy the camera, I doubt you'll have any problem, use JPG for fast action sports and you should be fine. Bob.
If you are using auto focus the light loss may disable it.
I would suggest a slightly older model of DSLR, Canon T1 or T2 with image stabilization, mega pixels are not all equal, P&S have smaller sensors and smaller tighter packed receptors than DSLRs, better quality is made possible by better equipment in this case. Bob.
There are several good long range zooms advertised, upon reading specs though I always stayed away from them, I also would like a faster lens in Disney for the evenings, I love twilight photos, finally I would consider a high end P&S , Canon in my case, G12 or SX40is if my memory serves, back up to the DSLR and easier to carry all day. Bob
My advice is to find a camera store that lets you hold and play a bit with the camera, make sure it feels good in your hands, too much weight, bodies that do not fit yours make using a pain, years ago I sold a lot of cameras, I tried to fit both feel and customers desires to get them what they both needed and wanted. Bob.
Back in the days of film the ideal portrait range was considered to be 85-110mm, you can do your math, I do like the Canon 50mm 1.8 though I have heard that the 1.4 is a lot better for the lower depth of field, recently tele converters seem to be made for specific telephoto lenses, years ago my portrait rig was a 50mm 1.8 with a 2x converter. Bob.
I like the first, esp the cropping, though I would like to see the same crop with the original color, I no longer get crazy over mono chrome, too many years working in B&W. Bob.