camera for baby pix

[Tom Nugent Jr]

[I think I forgot to change the email address I used for subscribing 
to this list when my old one died, which would explain why I haven't 
been receiving any email on the list for a while.  I found out when 
trying to post this message that I wasn't subscribed with my current 
address.  Oh well -- all fixed now!]


My wife and I are expecting our first baby at the beginning of April, 
and I'd like to get a new digital camera to capture the billions of 
pictures I'll want to take of our new bundle of joy.  :-)  I 
currently have a Nikon Coolpix 950, and while it's served me well, it 
doesn't seem like it would hold up for the demands of baby 
photography.  In particular, I'd like a camera with the following 
characteristics:

*FAST startup time (my CP950 takes a long time to turn on and get 
ready to shoot)
*very small lag time from button push to photo (at least after 
pushing button halfway for auto-focus)
*built-in flash should be far enough away from lens to minimize red-eye
*3 megapixel is fine, although bigger is of course better
*sort of small - fit in a pocket would be nice, but slightly bigger 
would probably be OK
*I'd prefer the wide-angle end of the zoom range to be less than 35mm 
at 35mm equivalent (28mm would be great!)
*Good color quality
*Not too expensive -- under $500 or so is preferred

I've done some research at dpreview.com and steves-digicams.com, and 
can't figure out what to get.  I'm hoping you all on this list can 
offer some advice!

Some searching turned up the following as some possibilities:
*Canon Powershot A70 or A80?
*Casio QV-R40 (I wouldn't normally think of Casio, but this camera 
has gotten some good reviews)
*Sony DSC-P8 (or now the P52?)
*Olympus C-4000Z? or C-5000Z?
*Nikon CP 4300?

I can't figure out what's so different between the Canon A70 and A80 
(except the A80 has more megapixels) - is there much of a 
difference?.  Last weekend I had an opportunity to use a friend's A80 
at a dance competition to shoot the friend while she was dancing.  It 
seemed to have an annoyingly long delay between when it auto-focused 
and when it actually took the shot.  Maybe it was just my 
unfamiliarity with the camera.

Back into the more expensive pro-sumer range, the Nikon CP 5400 and 
the Olympus C-5060Z both look nice because of their 28mm wide-angle 
lens.  But the Nikon looks like it suffers from being slow...

Anyway.  What are people's thoughts on what would be a good, 
not-too-expensive camera for getting all those random action shots of 
a baby (and toddler, as she grows)?  I'm not talking posed shots with 
a tripod -- I'm talking "quick, grab the camera, she's being cute 
again!" kinds of situations.

Thanks!

  -- Tom