ARGH!!! I was composing a post for almost half an hour and the forums logged me out for some reason, discarding everything I wrote.
Well, here's the short version:
I strongly advise investing a little more money, especially when you want to use the cam professionally (earning money, using it).
If the Powershot A95 is too expensive for you, here are some things that I'd pay attention to when looking for a cam:
> 4 batteries - this is a must for anything beyond occasional snapshots
> resolution > 5mp, or
very little noise - (dpreview.com tests cameras for this)
> little chromatic aberation and lens distortion artifacs - (dpreview.com tests cameras for this)
> no ultra-compact/style cameras - those have small sensors, strong lens-distortion and aren't at all versatile
> a large shutter speed range - at least 5s - 1/1000s
> manual shooting mode and focus
> make sure it's not too old - if it's from 2004 or even earlier, it's quite certainly using antiquated technique and you'll have to fight with problems that newer cams don't have anymore.
> optionally a flip&twist display, to protect it from damage while not using the cam
> test the cam before you buy it! - maybe you can rent the model, you wish to buy, for a day and test it
Things that shouldn't be crucial for the purchase decision:
> digital zoom - never ever use it! it just scales your image up - you can do that afterwards
> optical zoom - 3x zoom is enough, as you won't be using it too often - if you really need zoom, get a superzoom cam with > 10x zoom. Before I got my cam, I thought zoom was important, too, but now I know better.
> built-in-flash - those are weak and consume much battery-power - you might want to buy an additional flash with an own battery
Well, I hope this get's you a little closer to your own cam.