Cool, I might have to see if you can get me the hook up on a new tripod The one I am looking at is like $130 or so so I need some help

Yeah it seems to be that most P&S's run SD while the SLR's run CF although most Nikon and Canon's run CF even in the P&S's. The Nikon 8700/8800 and the Canon S2IS both have some good manual control and with him starting out he really does not need to think about the manual controls of an SLR. Man if I had to deal with all of the manual controls on my 350D when I first started out, I would not be doing this today