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I will be taking wildlife and scenery photos demanding a much greater zoom than the 5X that the canon G11/G12 has. The rest of the features (except the shooting speed) are very nice as is the price range (around $500).

I need something relatively light and easy to use since I am not a photography/technology expert. It does have to be good enough to produce semi-professional photographs for publication/sale.

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    Try snapsort.com
    – eruditass
    Sep 22, 2011 at 1:19
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    Now not to put a downer on things, but i think you're setting your sights a little high. Expecting a light compact camera that has fantastic zoom, and is also easy enough (and good enough quality) for someone who doesn't know much about photography to take pictures of good enough quality to sell i think at least is being a bit hopeful. The pro's would love to find such a good all in one camera as you're after I think ;)
    – Dreamager
    Sep 22, 2011 at 2:27
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    @Joe - Welcome to stack exchange! Great question, I'm sure others will benefit from the answers. One point to note is that photography is really about compromises, especially when you are concerned with cost. Having the biggest zoom, fastest speed, light, easy, and for $500 is what we would all love to have, but that is why the pros spend thousands upon thousands of dollars - it is expensive, technical, and big!
    – dpollitt
    Sep 22, 2011 at 3:00

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I think your best bet would be the brand new Canon Powershot SX40 HS. It has an astounding 35x optical zoom or a 24mm-840mm eqiv range. This camera is brand new and was announced as shipping at the end of September 2011.

As for the shooting speed - this camera has two options. You can shoot at a continuous 2.4fps until you fill the memory card. Or you have the option of a "High-Speed Burst HQ" that will shoot 8 images at 10.3fps.

On top of those features that you are requiring, the camera has what Canon claims is 4.5stops worth of image stabilization, which will come in handy when you are out at 840mm!

This camera will be the best compromise that offers a great range, fast shooting speed, ease of use, in a small package, and at a decent price.

If you do require the highest quality, and apertures that are beyond the scope of a camera/lens of this size, you will have to look at professional grade lenses in the 70-200mm f/2.8 or 300mm f/4 range and up.

I apologize for this sounding like an advertisement - but really some of this new technology in point and shoot cameras is quite amazing.

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