WTB: Digital Camera with Optical Zoom

[Djinnmage]

I'm looking for a nice digital camera (better than 2MP) which must support optical zoom. This camera will be for my wife for Christmas. I'm contemplating buying a new one, but she strongly supports buying used if it saves us a chunk of money. She's definately a point and shoot girl but does want to have some control over the flast and zooming (she and I both want the optical zoom). We are both partial to Sony (I have several memory sticks and sony products) as well as Canon. I'm not opposed to buying another brand, but I would like to stay away from something too generic. If anyone has something they want to part with or can suggest a good one new (and where at), let me know. I would prefer offers to be emailed to me because I don't get the PM notifications to my email (I have it enabled though). My budget is between $100 and $200.

[bombledmonk]

A wonderful point and shoot with tons of control and 3x optical zoom is the Cannon A75 (or A70 which is what I have). It's in your price range if you shop around. I'll post some links later if you don't find anything, I'm out of time now...

[elroy]

I was also looking for a similar camera and was leaning toward the Canon A75 or A85. After talking to bombledmonk and seeing some of his pictures I went to Staples and bought an A75 Canon for $199. If you get it today it comes with a 128mb flash card in addition to the included 32mb card and an extra accessory pack. But this deal ends today so hurry.