Was this camera the right choice?

[Falsefaith]

My dad bought me a Song DSC-F88.. cute compact 5mp, 3xoptical zoom, user friendly camera. He got it for 399.99. I'm a beginner, but i really wanna go advanced. Read books, have hands on training and went through some online lessons. I understand this sony, its pretty easy. But is it the rite camera for me (so i can become advanced)? For 400 bucks could i get a different camera that would be better? I'm looking for image quality(perfer 5mp+), decent zoom, and auto+manual focus. If this isn't the rite choice for me to go advanced, please post some cameras that might be good. (Perfer sony cameras cause i think i can get them cheaper, but i dont mind cameras outside the sony line). Please help. I really need advice. Thank you for helping me out... and im sorry if this is the wrong area to post this.

[John_Reed]

My dad bought me a Song DSC-F88.. cute compact 5mp, 3xoptical zoom, user friendly camera. He got it for 399.99. I'm a beginner, but i really wanna go advanced. Read books, have hands on training and went through some online lessons. I understand this sony, its pretty easy. But is it the rite camera for me (so i can become advanced)? For 400 bucks could i get a different camera that would be better? I'm looking for image quality(perfer 5mp+), decent zoom, and auto+manual focus. If this isn't the rite choice for me to go advanced, please post some cameras that might be good. (Perfer sony cameras cause i think i can get them cheaper, but i dont mind cameras outside the sony line). Please help. I really need advice. Thank you for helping me out... and im sorry if this is the wrong area to post this.One alternative you might consider in the same price range would be the Panasonic DMC-FZ15, which, though it has "only" 4 megapixels (more than enough for most people's needs), has great manual control features, including a nice big manual focus ring on the front, a very fast f2.8 stabilized 12X zoom Leica lens; Buydig.com is offering them for $374.99. (http://www.buydig.com/shop/SearchResults.aspx?mnm=Panasonic&cti=2014&Search=+GO%21+) Of course, it's bigger than your Sony, which for me would be a plus, but not necessarily for everyone.