Check out www.steves-digicams.com, www.dpreview.com and www.dcresource.com for some good sites. The dpreview site has some very good forums as well. The two cameras you mention are the new models for the ones I looked at last year. I started out between the Sony H5, Canon S3 and also the Panasonic FZ7. If I recall I ruled out the Sony because I didn't like the body and I think it was the priciest. I was close to going with the Canon, but I ended up with the Panny mainly due to the price. It actually seemed to be rated as a better lens than the others for daylight shooting outside which was pretty important to me. It did get the knock for having the worst low light performance, but in my eyes none of the non dslr cameras take great low light pictures, and the Panny'* didn't really look any worse than the rest. So also check that Panasonic FZ8 out as well. I believe it'* about $100 cheaper than the other two. But that 15X zoom would be pretty nice.

You can also go to flickr.com and do a search by camera for pictures. But there you have to remember a good majority of pictures are taken by amateurs, so you'll even see a lot of crappy photos taken with very good cameras. Also, any pictures I've posted here were taken with my Panasonic. But I'm admittedly still learning how to take pictures so mine aren't going to be the greatest examples either.

20D is a DSLR and uses CF last I checked, but maybe I'm thinking of a different year or model...SD1000 is a super compact, probably thicker than the CF anyways.

SD has come a long way and can actually meet or exceed CF, but I'm thinking about a long time ago.

Oops, brain fart! You're right.
Got the sd1000 to carry on the bike. It'* about size of pack of cigs.

my Nikon D50 uses SD... one of the reasons i bought it. so i could keep my old memory.

as far as cameras, look at the canon powershot S2 or S3 IS. IS is really nice. they are a bit big, though not as big as a dSLR

He'* already looking at the S5, which is better than those. If he wants to go smaller, he should go with the G9. That'* a lot of camera for the size (although it'* still kind of fat, just not a full body IMO).