Both the FZ8 and H9 have been reviewed on this site..

Across a number of different review sites the H9 is not getting glowing reviews. The Panasonic has been getting good reviews and is cheapest of the alternatives. The Pannys have gotten a bad rap for having noise reduction that smears fine details. It is somewhat overblown and many of the reviews are saying the H9 is worse in that regard..

The Canon is brand new and it hasn't been reviewed yet. The Canon and Sony share the same sensor so I would certainly wait for a review before getting the S5..

I own the FZ8 and my galleries of flower macros and April in Arizona were shot with the camera.terryhttp://tbanet.zenfolio.com/..

RAW can be very important. I've slowly made the switch toward it and now use it 90% of the time. Just love the versatility of it..

I've seen some very good work done with the panny and the Canon..

Have you looked at flickr's camera finder?Don't wait for the Nikon D-whatever, have fun now!http://www.flickr.com/photos/j_wijnands/..

May not be what you want to hear (because you do not list it) but for a growing photographer entering into that class of camera, I would recommend the Fuji S6000..

It has, great handling, extremely good image quality, good at high ISO and I think that it has RAW and the wide angle starts at 28mm (135 equiv) ... an important feature for many..

Check it out ... this site gives a full review..

Chas.Canada.==============Do Not Listen to What I Say ... Listen to What I Mean !...

Canon PowerShot S5IS (or the previous model S3IS) - like this buthow important is "RAW"?.

Not that important on what's essentially a fun camera. I wouldn't let it be a dealbreaker. The S5IS is likely to be the best camera in it's class..

If you really, really get into photography and don't mind spending a lot of time in front of the computer dealing with rather slow software, RAW will get the most out of a camera and your photos. It's a bit 'hard core' though. Slows down the camera too..

Androohttp://Androo.smugmug.com..

A correspondent who worked for me used a Panasonic FZ7 for a year and did quite well. I suspect the FZ8 would be even better. I have a TZ1 and am not that thrilled with the results of the noise reduction..

Nightshot is a fun toy. I have it on my DSC-V3. It is not a reason to buy a camera, especially since the H-9 lags behind the other cameras you mentioned (according to reviews at least, I haven't shot with one and can't directly comment)..

As other posters said, RAW is valuable if you really want to tweak your pictures. If your son likes photo manipulation he may prefer RAW..

Another key question is how he feels about autofocus. If he wants to try MF every now and then, check the interface on those cameras..

If the new Canon is out, you should probably check that out against the Panasonic (and probably the Fuji once again I'm not familiar). If you can't decide which image rendition you like better, factor camera feel into the equation..

Good luck.

'Nice pen, bet you write good stories with it.'..

A nice thing about the S5 IS is that it can accept a TTL-metered tilt/swivel flash. This should make it easier to avoid "red eye" in flash photography..

If the S5 IS is like the S2 and S3 IS, it should be a great camera (better than the average P&S, though not quite a replacement for a DSLR). That is, assuming it's low-light / high-ISO performance proves OK (for a camera of it's type) in tests...