Sony Camera's are expensive because they use CARL ZEISS lenses which are supposed to be one of the best lenses in the world. Having said that my friend has just purchased a KODAK Z740, 5MP, 10 x Optical Zoom, 5 x Digital Zoom for $299 & in my opinion it is far better than my Sony & less than half the price. The biggest problem with Digital Camera's is the delay between when you push the button & when the photo is actually taken. If you plan on taking action shots than you'll need a camera that is fast of which most of the cheaper one's are pretty slow. To Charms. The finepix camera you mention is the same as the one we have at work & I find it to be good, although I have only ever used it for taking stills, don't know how well it handles action shots.