[XenaWP]

I would always stick to one of the major 4 manufacturers: Canon, Nikon, Olympus, or Pentax. Sony makes a pretty decent product, as does Fuji. The other makes: Panasonic, Samsung, Casio, Kodak, are not where I would put my money (especially that much money).

$500 for something super compact seems like misplaced money to me. Super compact is going to have compromised optics. Allowing light into a camera takes space. You can't avoid those physics. Pixels require size. Cramming more pixels onto a smaller sensor yields a higher numeric "megapixel" count but really does little to improve picture quality.

So generally, I'd say stick with the traditional camera manufacturer, don't focus on megapixel count but rather on sensor size.

Optical viewfinders may be "on their way out" but to me that is a detriment. It is very difficult to find a LCD that is bright enough to see in full daylight. You often end up having to attach some sort of klugy shading device to shade the LCD so you can see the little screen. Having to see settings on it can be maddening. Personally, I never use the LCD for taking photos, only reviewing them.