I agree with Hogleg44/40: If you can get a Sony 707 or 717 for a nice price, go for it.
And concerning your photo printer... Also look for the canon range. The photosmart printer series are called that way because the printer has a build-in flashcard reader. IMHO not realy something to go for, unless you realy realy want to be able to print phot's right from your Camera. If you can live with printing through your PC, you realy should take a look at the canon range. Especialy if you are going to print a lot. 4 seperate int cardridges will be quite cost-effective if you print fulll-color. The Canon i560 is my personal favorite, but others will also do the same job. The Canon i560 is about 140 Euro's (So you could pend the extra cash to the camera, media or aditional battery)
> Any and all opinions appreciated as far as these brands are concerned > and what level of Megapixels i need for nice 35mm looking type of photos > at a 8x10 level of pictures. Zoom is important to me and i like the way > cameras > look with nice big lenses so im leaning towards the Fuji S5000 becuz of > price > looks and zoom... i just don't want to get stuck with a shitty brand or bad > Quality.