All good advice and thank each and every one of you for responding. You've given me plenty to think about and certainly save for.

I agree with the above posting in that a fixed aperture lense will get a shot in less light than any other. I use a 1.8 for general night photography and a 1.4 more for portrait work but it also does very well in low light conditions. Remember to set the white balance for whatever ambient light is about and test shoot some frames before the main event to fine tune ISO, white balance and shutter speed.

I recently ran into a problem with an older scanner that I had never hooked upo to the laptop. When I tried it,, it worked...sort of so I thought to try and find a new driver that would work. Tne problem was that the last driver update is for windows 98... not exactly available anymore. If your driver programs are up to date then there may be a bit of damage to one of the cable ends.

I've been using a 10-22mm Canon wide angle lense for a while now but wonder if I should be considering a different lense. I usually shoot landscape views and occasionally people. Any suggestions on what I might consider purchasing next?

If a chainsaw doesn't work.... dynamite. It's never left me hanging yet

In order to eliminate shake issues I find that pursuit of inner peace is a great place to start.
I look around and see all the things I have started and not finished....fist the vodka, then the last of that case of beer, and finally a couple of different single malt whiskys that I have been trying to compare for some time now.

You won't believe how innerly peaceful I feel right now.

For a totally unusual photo, I caught up with some people moving a piano in the back of a pickup truck in Kelowna BC. I got the lad in the back to act like he was playing it and got some shots of the result at a traffic light. Sadly the ex-wife has them but they were utterly unique. Think of different backgrounds you could use and have fun with the images.

I see that the federal government has said they will 'consider' the petition. I've heard that one before from companies in negotiations... they consider it and then say NO.

or that they like the flavour?

Merry Christmas to you too. Noticed quite a number of the photos were taken in BC along the CP line, one quite near the circular tunnel

the only problem I can see with politicians is that they know where we live and they can get at us.

Back when I was a kid some 50 years ago, Dad would give us money for clothes at Christmas to spend in the January sales.
My sister and I both got to see what the trends were over the holidays and then pick up the same thing at half the cost towards the end of January. It made the wardrobe budget go that much further.
That's one tradition that's hard to get me out of.

I bought a Fuji 6.3mp years ago and still use it regularly because I can leave it in the car and it's always there. I regularly use a Canon550 with a packmule lense case but would never dream of leaving that in the car overnight.

Recently a friend went to Cyprus and was a bit nervous of taking his Nikon... to loose that much money would be a nightmare. So I loaaned him my Fuji and gave him a blank chip and spare battery.

I'm still envious of some of the shots he got.

No matter how far I progress with DSLR's there will always be a place in my pack for a P&S.

I want a ferrari, a porsche and a harley... I can afford a ford Ka. As for cameras, I want an all singing all dancing Canon but in reality I could only afford to upgrade to a Canon 550 once they stopped making them.

So Before anyone can advise you on where to go, it would be helpful to know where you are now.

Camera brands are like so many other personal opinions...you like what you do. I use canon and my best mate uses nikon and to hear us talking, it sounds like we really don't think much of each other's mental abilities. Not true but that's what it sounds like. Recently he was away to Cyprus and didn't want to risk taking his Nikon with him. So I loaned him my pocket Fuji 6.5mp because not to take any camera would have been a sin.

I'm still envious of some of the photos he took with it.

Bottom line - it's the photographer's eye as much as the camera.

If ignorance is bliss, why are so many people unhappy?