Canon E18 Error, Or "I'm Camera Shopping"

[FuzzyPlushroom]

I dropped my Canon Powershot A40 a few feet - actually, knocked its tripod over - today and its lens is now permanently ejected and refusing to budge. It's not quite at, ah, the right angle either and none of the common solutions have worked. It's probably time for me to upgrade anyway - but to what?

What I'm looking for, basically, is something relatively inexpensive, with good image quality, comparable manual settings to this one, that runs on AA batteries (I'd settle for AAAs, but a standard battery size is pretty much a necessity). It should use a common memory card as well - Secure Digital (SD) or, if they still make 'em, CompactFlash. I don't care about size, and I'd like a decent (3x+) optical zoom.

So, any particular recommendations? For that matter, I'd settle for some repair advice...

[Nagoshi]

Id suggest the XTi, but it's kinda out of your budget. Plus it runs on its own batteries, altho you can get handles that will work with stock battery and AAs for even longer longevity.

[FuzzyPlushroom]

Yeah, I'm limited to a couple hundred bucks, unfortunately.

[Nagoshi]

That's too bad, because it's a really great camera. Owning myself one, it's something totally apart from a P&S. I don't know what you like to do with a camera, but you may want to take a look at the XTi if you want the extra picture quality.

[Spawn-Inc]

i just got the powershot A720 IS and so far i have no complaints accept it sometimes it takes a bit long for it to be ready for a second picture.

link.

8MP
6x optical zoom
face rec.
stabilization
2.5" lcd
record with sound and play back with sound.