I need a camera

[mrleezer0]

Here is my dilemma, I ambrand spanking new to the digital photography, also am a recent college graduate in Graphic Design. with that said I am looking for a digital camera on a budget of no more than 500.00$(preferably less), I want manual controls, for my artistic side, and I want a camera that will be able to make large prints, somewhere around 11X17 or larger. The thing is I do not know what pixel size I should get 3,4,5 megapixels. I am not looking to get anything professional as far as an SLR, I just want something that gives good quality pictures that are comparable to my 35mm Nikon I have now. There are a few I have looked at such as Kodak DX7590, Fuji S5100, and the Canon Power Shot S1. The thing is I have no idea what wold be the best bang for my buck. My main concerns are picture quality, manual controls, and then a tie for zoom ability and add on accessories(such as lenses and what not), any of the movie modes I could careless about. Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks

[John_Reed]

I have no idea what wold be the best bang for my buck.Bang for buck-wise, you won't find any more than the Panasonic DMC-FZ20 has to offer. It's gotten rave reviews by several professional camera reviewers, (including Jeff Keller of this site) and a whole bunch of satisfied users. It's safe to say that it's the "most talked about" camera on this forum. No one else offers an optically-stabilized 12X zoom Leica lens with f2.8 aperture over the whole zoom range, all the manual controls you'll need (including a nice big manual focus ring on the lens barrel, where focus rings belong), and 5 megapixels, enough to print your 11X17 photos if you need to. Its price is right around your upper limit: ~$500, depending on the source from whom you choose to buy.

[mrleezer0]

I really appreciate the help, after I posted this thread I began to read through other thread and noticed the FZ20 was highly talked, so as of right now it is my number 1 choice, if I look around anymore then I might never make my mind up.
Thanks again