On Sun, 11 Jan 2004 16:22:54 CST, James Bassuk
wrote:

it needs to take great pics, be quick to boot, and be small enough to fit
into a ski jacket pocket.


I don't own one myself, but you should take a long cold look at the
Canon ELPHs; they're about the size of a deck of cards, they feel
REALLY robust (I haven't done the drop test on one, but they feel
really tough), and take good pix. Boot time seems reasonable. and
I've been impressed with each one I've used.

I've got an Olympus c700 myself, which is nice because it has a 10x
optical zoom, and handles varying light conditions REALLY well. But
it's slow to boot, a little bulky, and doesn't feel quite as solid as
I'd like for skiing (I think this would apply to most Olympi with the
same shell, of which there are several). I take it skiing, but tend
to keep it buried in the pack, rather than in a pocket where it would
be more accessible. Great camera for some uses, but not for skiing.

bw