Keep your camera on Auto so that you can grab that brief opportunity of a special un-planned shot.

When you plan a shot - then switch to Manual. For action shots - use Shutter priority and for shots requiring good depth of field - use Aperture priority.

In the old days - we didn't have such things as 'Auto', nor did we have built in light meters, and the ISO was set to whatever film you were using. Those cameras gave the users a very good grounding in the technical side of photography and what shutter speeds would freeze various events and we were conscious of what depth of field we would get at the various apertures. We knew that on a bright day 1/125 at f8 would give a reasonably well exposed picture so the camera could be set to that in case we didn't have time to use the separate exposure meter.

The 'Auto' setting has taken away most of the requirements of photographic knowledge - and encourages people who perhaps are not really a 'Photographer', it generally gets good shots and has encouraged people to get a camera, it is nothing to be ashamed of using even for the experienced.

However, it is great to get into the 'Here be Dragons' region of the dial where the 'Manual' settings are and really start to experiment.

Get rid of that obtrusive background - use Aperture priority and press that 'Depth of field' button at the side of the lens.
Want a fluid flow of water - use 'Speed' priority and set it down to 1/10 sec or less.
Sometimes underexposing a picture gives a superb effect that you would lose with the 'Auto' setting.

It may be a good idea to get yourself a good book on photography such as 'Collins Complete Photography Course' or 'Understanding Exposure, 3rd Edition: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera'.

Water Flow

The worst car has to be the 'Smart' which is noisy, cramped and a 'Top Gear' program showed it to be dangerous in a crash - the car survived but the occupants wouldn't.

I recently observed one have to have 3 goes at getting over a speed bump!

Superb fuel consumption? Forget it. It may be good on a rolling road in a warehouse at 39mph but in real life it sucks - as do many other 'economic' cars.

In a recent survey at my wifes club the Smart came bottom with 20mpg followed by the 1 Litre Rover. The best fuel consumption of 33mpg came from a 1.8 Litre Ford Focus.

If you have Adobe Elements it has a superb Photo Stitch capability.

The Canon software works OK but Camidia gave me so many problems that I deleted it!

Pre Elements I used Microsoft Image Composite Editor which is FREE and I was surprised how good it was and far exceeded the Camidia Photo-stitch.

Checkout;
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-digital-image-stitcher.htm

I have used the Olympus Camidia C-720 for some years now and it takes great pictures. For simplicity use the Auto position and it performs well.

A decent bridge camera should also have a Manual position which gives you full control of all functions and lets you be more creative.

In the Auto setting the zoom has a 12X range - however, set the menu to allow for digital zoom and put it in Manual, then you get the equivalent of 1200mm on a 35mm camera.

The burst setting is almost vital for action shots and this brings in a big difference with a DSLR.

I found that ALL the camera I had used had a delay between pressing the shutter and picture being taken - try capturing breaking waves and you will see what I mean.

Being used to SLR's in the past before going digital I have now purchased a Canon EOS 300D and there is no apparent shutter delay so capturing action shots is easy.

However I have still kept the bridge camera as it is smaller, lighter and the Superzoom can reach places the DSLR cannot.

Remember though - as has been mentioned in previous posts on this site - zooms are a compromise. This is convenient to capture pictures you may otherwise miss, but the quality is not as good as a more restrained range of zoom and can have very noticeable problems at some settings.

It depends what you want. There is good advice in the posts above but for my pennyworth - My Canon EOS 300D came with a Battery grip and yes, it duplicates many of the controls and possibly makes it slightly easier to take pictures in the Portrait position.

However, I soon removed it as I found it far too big and heavy especially when combined with the chunkyness of the camera. It may make it easier to hold a small camera - but then, what is the point of getting a small camera if you are going to make it into a chunky one with the battery grip?

My first camera was brownie box when I was about 5 years old. After that I got a 2 x 2 Zeiss Icon which had bellows and worked up through a rangefinder camera to SLRs. When Digital came out at a reasonable price I got an Olympus point and shoot and later an Olympus Camidia C-720 which has many functions. At that point I stopped using the old film camera and was very glad to do so as I can do so much more with digital such as seeing the pictures instantly, editing on the computer and viewing them as on-screen slide shows.
Recently I was drawn to go back to a SLR and purchased a Canon EOS 300D which has much quicker reaction times and better images - plus I can play around with filters again.

I use an external drive for backup and have just ordered a second for 'belt and braces' backup. I find that GFI backup works well and can be set for various tasks at different times and as incremental backups or complete backups. Best of all it is free.

I would certainly advise an Uninterrupable power Supply for your area - they are relatively cheap and much cheaper than the hassle of a fried drive.

?? All my programs work with JPG and I never bother with TIFF. The size difference could be due to the compression used, comlpex pictures come out larger than simple ones.

Why spend so much money when you can get programs such as Picasa which has very good filing as well as superb basic editing tools that quickly and easily correct picture problems without a steep learning curve.

I have seen walking poles that have a camera thread on the top.

There are several here; http://www.morrisphoto.co.uk/productslist~categoryid~149~sub~Monopods+and+walking+poles~selection~26.html

And some American tests here;
http://www.briangreen.net/2011/07/trekking-pole-camera-mounts.html

Picasa is a superb program for beginners or people who do not want to spend hours learning a program just to edit a few pictures. It has superb crop and straighten functions - very easy and intuitive to use. There are also useful lighting adjustments which can quickly correct lighting in pictures.

Paintshop Pro has far more complicated controls - but if you are going to look for more control then Photoshop Elements has more than enough for you at a reasonable price.

I didn't have the Canon with me that day - purchased after - but this picture is approximately what I may have achieved with the Canon at maximum zoom.

Different makes of camera - perhaps even different quality models - can 'see' light differently. I have a Canon EOS300D DSLR and a Olympus C-720 'bridging camera'. sometimes it is very noticeable how different 2 pictures taken at the same time and place, can be between the two cameras. The Canon generally gives richer colours, sometimes the Olympus is much paler - which can often be improved with photo software. Possible the light balance may be affected by the metering areas.

I use a Canon EOS 300D with the basic 18~55mm lens but also take my old Olympus Camidia C720 bridging camera with its 12X ultrazoom which gives me up to 1200mm effective lens with the electronic zoom. There are times when the ultrazoom is very useful and I can capture pictures I would never get with the Canon.

Ding Dong Mine at 1200mm effective focal length

I have just got a Canon EOS 300D and tried the memory card out of my vintage Canon A20. The photos were still there from the old camera and as has previously been stated new directories were created for each camera (and each session).

The question about formatting a card - the answer is yes, you will completely wipe the card of all data. There may be software on the internet to retrieve the data but you may as well assume it is lost for good. :(

One thing I found with the old camera was that the Camidia software was a complete pain and often crashed the computer so with the new camera I use Picasa which is a dream and makes life very easy when downloading. After a really big photo session (such as holiday) I use a card reader for convenience with the large number of files. :)