I want to upgrade from a Canon Powershot S500, which I've been relatively
pleased with, but would like something that would give me more control, and
a better zoom.

I've been happy with all Canon camera's I've ever owned, so I've been
looking at the

   PowerShot S3 IS (12x zoom, 6mp, $400), and the
   PowerShot G7 (6x zoom, 10mp, $600).

I also saw one review that liked the

   Sony DSC-H5 (12x zoom, 7.2mp, $450) for the same price range.

My first priorty is sharpness of the pictures, so one thing I like about all
of these are the Image Stabilization features.  I assume that the higher the
pixel, the sharper the picture, but I doubt if I'd print anything larger
than 8x10.  I would like a better zoom, but Macro is also very important to
me.  I've heard that for sharpness, the lens is the most important thing.
The Sony has a Carl Zeiss, so would that make it better than the Canons?

Does anyone have experience with any of these cameras?  If so, satisfied?
unsatisfied?  Any suggestions, feedback, etc?  Are there other cameras I
should add to the list to consider?

Thanks,

Bill