Any photo buff's out there?

Depends on how serious you are about photography.  I'm no photographer and am perfectly happy with an all auto camera.  I have to say my old film camera gives me better pictures but it has a Leica lense.  It gave me a false impression that I WAS a photographer   

For digital, Sony is good at electronics, so they make tiny camera that looks cool.  But their lenses are not as good.  Panasonic teams up with Leica,  you can get those particular models and take excellent pictures.  Very expensive and the body of the camera does look as "cool".  My photographer friends told me to stay away from Nikkon.  Don't remember why.  I have a Canon A80 I got couple years ago.  Happy with it.  Several friends has different models from Canon.  All happy.   

Everyone had some great advice.  Let me just add a few things. 

First of all, I too recomend going Digital.  For several reasons, some stated above.

If you buy a digital SLR keep in mind that the consumer level cameras have a "Crop Factor" of 1.6x, which means that if you get a camera with a 50mm lens it will actually have the effect of a 80mm lens because the CMOS sensor is smaller than a 35m format.  On higher end pro cameras the CMOS chip is the same size as a 35mm so there is no "crop factor".  I had to spend mega bucks on a 24mm wide-angle to get a 35mm lens view, which is w.y.s.i.w.y.g. (what you see is what you get).  This might all be confusing, sorry. 

Keep in mind the size and weight of a digital slr.  You can't stuff them in a purse or pocket.

Batteries and Memory:  Plan on buying extra.  Didgital SLR batteries are pricey ($40-$80).

If you just plan on taking travel photos or family portraits and don't plan on getting carried away with D.O.F. (depth of field) or need crazy exposure settings, then a pocket sized point-and-shoot might do the trick.  A lot of the newer high mega-pixel cameras out today are amazingly small and can fit in a pocket and go anywhere.  They also have identical image quality as most digital slr's.  What you lose is the lens options and some adjustablities.  But most effects such as D.O.F., exposure, etc can be done in Photoshop.

Before you drop $$$ try out both point-and-shoot and SLR.  But deffinately you must go digital.