I hate to be a Kiljoy here, but do you suppose you could take this photographically meaningless banter off of this "Photography Forum"; making room for some REAL photo talk? I keep getting "notification" emails only to find this jiberish waiting for me here. Come on folks....move on to some personal site. PLEASE!! Thanks

UPDATE:
Would you believe, I returned the Sony, then about 5 days later, rebought it. I went back and looked very critically at the images that I had taken with it. They looked really good to me. Nice color, decent sharpness, low noise. Can't beat those 3, so got another one. The Sony WINS.

I agree. A dust mark is a little less defined than the thing you have there. And dust is often ONLY visable in shots taken with very small apertures ie. f22 and smaller. You might be able to see this mark with the naked eye, if you look carefully. I once removed a couple of specks of dust with a very fine lens brush.
Be sure it's clean before brushing it over your sensor. And don't clean it by running it over your fingers where grease lingers.

I kind of have the feeling that your solution will be the more popular one.
Yes. The Sony is a rather well-regarded 30X superzoom.
Thanks for responding.

By many of our standards, one might say that my gear has been trimmed to the bone already. Many folks want "more stuff". I want less; with the intention to use less, more.
Current stuff: 1) Canon DSLR + 3 good lenses 17-70mm (for wide and normal), 50 1.8 (low light), and 70-200/4 IS (mainly sports, nature and wildlife). 2) Sony HX100V (30X superzoom). 3) Canon G9 (my-almost-pocketable camera for those times when smaller size is more appropriate).
If you would cut one, which would it be? OR offer suggestions as to possible restructuring of gear. Grandkids' sports is important right now. That said, the DSLR and one lens that would have to stay around, is the 70-200/4. It's the best tool for panning during hockey games (youth hockey has notoriously poorly lit arenas). Any suggestions?

It's a camera review site. www.imaging-resource.com

Moose,
Were those shots taken when half pressed(pre-focused)? Actually, I do that technique instinctively on all cameras....DSLRs too. What are the FPS stats on the P100(and P500)? Is that continuous until card is full, or only a short number of shots before the camera needs to "digest" the images?

Check out "Dave's Picks". They like the P500 quite a bit, except for it's extreme wide angle abilities. With Nikon getting rapped on occasion (their non-DSLRs), this one(and maybe others lately)seems to get raves....at least from Dave. So sounds like Nikon's mom-SLRs might be on the rise. I'm a Canon user (with a Sony thrown in now), but was an avid Nikon user when in 35mm.

I can totally agree. I'm more frequently trying to convince myself that I should travle lighter in my old age, and shoot everything with a GOOD superzoom. I still have my grandkids' hockey games, though. And for those, DSLRs are the only answer. Just can't follow the action with anything else. But, when the kids end thier hockey "careers", I may also end my DSLR career as well.

WOW!! Superb detail. When I see stuff like this, it's hard to believe that a DSLR (and gear) can do any better. Really. I mean, I would be more than satisifed with results like this.

Just to be sure that we're clear....The shot-to-shot speed of the Sony is not very fast. But, the single shot speed is very fast. Almost negates the need to utilize the 1/2 press (to pre AF). About as instant as a DSLR; and I do use one of those as well.

I just purchased the Sony HX100V. In the short time that I've found time to "play" with it, I'm finding the results to be superb.
It does have that decent burst mode of something like 8-10 fps, but only for one burst before having to process those shots. On the other hand, it's one of the fastest single shot non-DSLRs that I've experienced. The actual shot-to-shot time may not be the fastest(other than for the burst), but the individual one-shot certainly is. The clarity and sharpness are top-notch. I haven't tried any of the multitude of bells and whistles yet, but so far, as a basic shooter, I'm VERY pleased with my purchase. I do know that it's many competitors are currently the FZ150 and maybe Canon's SX40IS. That said, I don't think the Sony will disappoint you.

Thanks Jake.
I can go one further. The menu. I have 2 Canons right now. Had 3 until I sold my SX20. That said, I'm thinking of returning the Sony. I just can not seem to get comfortable handling it. And...not a real fan of it's in-cam camera manual. Sounds good, but makes even the past SX20's CD only manual appreciated more. I know I haven't given the Sony much of a fighting chance. But at my age, I'd rather avoid the "fight", and just use something of which I'm at least somewhat familiar with. As far as what I've seen or read about these two cameras(Sony HX100V and Canon SX40), well, might be too close to call. So either may do. But today, it's looking like the Canon might emerge the victor.

That's ok with me. I'm currently trying out a HX100V.

Seems to be a rather nice camera.

Not sure which that is; as I only have experienced the Sony HX100V so far. Local stores do not have the SX40s.