Need Help for the Physically Disabled

[Goldilocks]

Thanks all,
Dale your a Godsend.
  I will follow up with those jpegs as you said.
Unfortunately, after I wrote my last post, I checked dpreview feature search, and there is no ultra-compact animal out there at any price (even fixed focal lenght lens), at any pixel count that shoots RAW. (Maybe I can steal the brainwaves from a eagle- LOL) So that idea is out.
  Wanting a 28mm lightweight camera with alot of control, I better make up my mind fast, cause I knew when I first saw it, I knew that I'm a lost breed for that marketplace. At first I thought the Panasonic DMC-LX1 was going to be it (engineered more technically efficinet) until the post production model told me 28 mm only works in 16:0 format (what about the top of all those tall trees along with the width of the horizon?)
 
   Jim might have the best idea, if the stitching works ok on the s70 without the tripod. Who would I have to ask for that.? Canon? Canon supposedly made the s80 for stitching very easy with guides in the LCD view display. Oh, and live histograms in the s80? Not that experienced with histograms, want to fully understand it, but once I do, do you think that would do much help in taking the pictures to get the most clarity from darks and lights and/or the lighting mood that I'm trying to capture?
Till we speak again, If I haven't worn out your patience.
Thanks again all,
Linda (Goldilocks)
"It's people like you that makes this world a happy place"

[Goldilocks]

Reading through your post again made me imagine what I would buy for an absolute minimum cost, minimum weight landscape photography system:

$400 Canon PowerShot S70
$70 1 GB CompactFlash card
$20 carrying case
$20 basic aluminum tripod
$385 Canon i9900 printer (after rebate)
$100 RawShooter Premium

That's all the essentials for just under $1,000 USD that will let you make prints up to 13x19.
(obviously it doesn't include a computer to run RawShooter on)
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[HiltonP]

Two cameras which are currently available, and which do have RAW capability, are the :

   -   Sony V3 and
   -   Olympus 7070WZ

Neither are "ultra-compact", but they're not dSLR's either. The Sony has an aperture qwirk but if one compensates for it the camera produces excellent photos. The Olympus is bulky, but that wide zoom (WZ) might appeal to you for landscapes.

[jimhuber]

The Canon S70 has been superseded by the S80, but it's still available. A quick search on shopping.yahoo.com yielded 27 stores, with prices ranging from $355 to $543 USD.

The DSC-V3 is 15 oz with battery & media, according to Sony.

The Olympus 7070WZ is 17 oz, according to Olympus.

The Canon S70 is 10.6 oz, just within her 12 oz limit. With a 28 - 100mm (equivalent) lens, stitch-assist, and RAW support it fits all of her requirements and desires.

I've shot panoramas hand-held with the S70 and stitch assist, and while that's not ideal it works quite well as long as you don't have close objects in the frames. I don't know exactly how close is too close, but trees at about 50 feet are no problem for AutoStitch to get sharp.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

The Canon S70 has been superseded by the S80, but it's still available. A quick search on shopping.yahoo.com yielded 27 stores, with prices ranging from $355 to $543 USD.

The DSC-V3 is 15 oz with battery & media, according to Sony.

The Olympus 7070WZ is 17 oz, according to Olympus.

The Canon S70 is 10.6 oz, just within her 12 oz limit. With a 28 - 100mm (equivalent) lens, stitch-assist, and RAW support it fits all of her requirements and desires.

I've shot panoramas hand-held with the S70 and stitch assist, and while that's not ideal it works quite well as long as you don't have close objects in the frames. I don't know exactly how close is too close, but trees at about 50 feet are no problem for AutoStitch to get sharp.
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I have an S70 which I bought to have a pocket-sized point-and-shoot camera, and it gives much better results than I ever expected. When I got it, I looked in the manual just enough to make the basic settings the way I want them, so I was never aware that it could shoot panoramas. Your comments got me to look in the manual again, and sure enough: there is "stitch assist".  

Thank you! Now i can experiment with panos without having to read the entire 177-page manual.

I do recommend the S70 as a light-weight camera that can provide nice results. In comparison with my main camera (10D), it is pretty noisy at higher ISO speeds, but that is fixable with Noise Ninja or the like.

-Eric