Digital cameras: Image Stabilization, what's the big deal ?

RE: IS, is it worth it?

For regular 3x optical zoom cameras I think shutter speed is more important than IS. It's not a feature that I would look for in a pocket digital, but if you're looking at 10x optical zoom digitals, I would recommend it.

I had a look at Cannon's 3MP 10x zoom camera and the IS works very well. Just zoom out at 10x and turn the IS on and off and you can see right in the store through the camera's LCD display just how well it works. If you are very particular about camera operation and features, go to a camera store, not one of the big box stores. I got much better service, advice and info from the one camera store operator I spoke to as opposed to the dozen big box kids. I would have bought the Cannon for sure had it been 4MP.

The Fuji 5100 I looked at was very good for action shots. Good shutter speed and low shutter delay. I was told that the Kodak can have a slow shutter response but I haven't been able to try one first hand, so check that out. The Panasonic is said to have fast shutter reponse, but again I could not try out the camera (another big box chain). Only the camera store was able to let me try every model and even view the images on a TV. I'm willing to pay extra for that kind of service.