Looking for new point-and-shoot

Hello! I am new here! :) I am a casual/beginner photographer.

I am in the market for a new digital compact or subcompact and have been searching the web to no avail! My head is spinning right now with all the choices out there!

I have small children and my biggest concern in a camera is speed in powering up to the first shot and speed of subsequent shots. I was going to buy a dslr, but decided against it because of their size. I am looking for the fastest digital camera I can find and am willing to pay up to about $350 or $400.

Can anyone help me???

I am going to be more specific. I am looking at two Sonys:

1. Cybershot DSC W150 (8.1 megapixel, 2.7" Clear Photo LCD™ display, Carl Zeiss 5x (30mm) Optical Zoom lens, Smile Shutter™ technology, Face Detection, Intelligent Scene Recognition, Super SteadyShot®, HD output and HD slideshow)

2. Cybershot DSC T-300 (10.1 megapixel, 3.5" touch screen, 4GB internal memory, 4X Optical Zoom, Face Detection, Smile Shutter™ mode).

Does anyone out there have an opinion on which of these is a better camera in regards to shutter speed, image quality and ease of use?

Hey - sorry no one got to your post sooner. It does help that you got more specific.

First of all, in my opinion, a digital SLR would be the best choice. If speed is one of your top priorities, then a digital SLR should be top of the list. No compact camera is going to be as quick as a DSLR. I know digital SLRs are more bulky. But they have no noticable shutter-lag and start up is more or less instantaneous. There's still no compact camera that compares yet. I'm waiting for the camera makers to step up and make a compact camera that's fast. But they haven't done it yet.

I don't really have any experience with those two Sonys. We do have a pro review for the Sony W150. And since the W-Series is more of an enthusiast line than the T-Series, it might be a little quicker. Here's a link to the Sony W150 pro review, if you want to know more:

Sony Cybershot W150 Pro Review >>

As far as fast compact cameras go, the fastest I've used are the recent Panasonics. They are actually very quick - although still not as fast a a DSLR. Take a look at the Panasonic Lumix TZ4 and TZ5. We are wrapping up a pro review on those two cameras. Unfortunately, it's not quite done. But here's a link to our Panasonic TZ5 page:

Panasonic Lumix TZ5 Specs >>

Although I haven't actually used the TZ5, we did do a review of the TZ3 when it first came out, in 2006. I was very impressed with it then. The Panasonic TZ-Series are very powerful little cameras.

Hope that helps. Let us know if you have more questions. I'll watch this thread to see if you post again. I want to make sure you get the direction you need. And if you do end up buying a compact camera, there's a guide on the site for how to get the best possible photos from a point-and-shoot camera. I've learned a lot of tricks over the years - even for action photos. So we will make sure you figure out how to get good photos with whatever you buy :)