For my first camera I went ahead and purchased a DMC-FZ15 from Panasonic.

Main reason was the 12x optical zoom + manual focus ring. The lumix lense was a plus! I wanted something that was close to DSLR without the price and easy to use.

Takes great pictures compared to the other cameras I was considering at the time.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0407/04...asonicfz15.asp

I did a whole bunch of reading and looking at pics posted at http://www.dcresource.com/


So definately do your research!
Not to do a plug but if you'd like it I will probrably be selling it soon along with my smaller Canon A510 to purchase an actual SLR camera. Let me know if you'd be intrested!