Thanks Kraig, I know very little about focal length and the differences it makes. I'm sure you must be talking optical zoom. Digital zoom is fun but so far I've found it more difficult to focus - and I know it is just zooming as you can on the computer screen. I suspect it is better to do Digital zooming on the computer rather than with the camera though no doubt I'll experiment for some time yet since I have a lot of megapixels to play with. So far I've mostly not been using all of them. I don't have as significant curvature problems with my new camera - though there is some distortion according to the reviews - thanks for alerting me how to overcome some of it. You've prompted me to re-read reviews now that I've had a little experience and they're showing up features I've so far overlooked. They also point to glossaries and other helpful pages. Maybe worth other people putting their camera name (in quotes) and review into Google and reading some reviews. eg "canon powershot s70" review Thanks also for the tips about trying a tripod. I knew it was a good idea to actually physically see it. I've been reading that I can control the camera from the computer so that could be useful when photographing photos/books as well. Cheers, Cathy At 08:42 7/03/2005, you wrote: >Zooming the camera to the longest focal length possible (camera >farthest away from the subject) may help the curvature problem. Long >focal length lenses "flatten" the subject. But then you'll need to use >a tripod more than ever, because the long zoom exaggerates any >movement. ><snip> >Kraig