How about that new Canon S1S. 640x480 30 FPS. Optical image stabillization. Zooms and adjusts for exposure while in record mode. 10X zoom optical. You can get a 4Gb micro drive for 200 bucks in some places. People were taking the Hitachi drives out of a certain MP3 player that they were paying 190 US dollars for. I have a Canon A-70. My old JVC camcorder broke. I used the A-70 to take hundreds of video clips of my life. Clips of my children. They are not the best quality but they will be cherished for many years.

Please see this thread (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=25858) on the S1

It's a very nice camera. Several students have been through class with that camera and the images seem very nice. The feel of the camera is very good and I like the layout of buttons and the overall ergonomics. I wish it had a RAW option, but at that price point it's asking a bit much.

I teach HS in Brooklyn. We are working without a contract now for about 16 months I believe. When we settle, we will get a check for retro pay. This forum has me envisioning a sweet Nikon D-70 or a Canon 10D. Lets see if that goes past the wife. I'll just have to confuse her with words like RAW mode and Jpeg being lesser quality than our A-70. That our poor children will never be able to go back in time and take that picture in RAW mode. That you only can capture in RAW mode once in a life time, then time goes on. I'm sure by that time she will be crying as she repeats the debit card numbers to me as I type it in on the web page of the retailer where we will be getting our new camera from ;)

So, which camera is best? 10D, D-70 or a digital Rebel EOSD will suffice?

Some people say get the Rebel and invest in better lenses. I saw a review on the D-70. It looks sweet as well.