Looking for a "play camera"

[ChowChi-Ching]

Hubby thinks it ridiculous to be photographing the kids and the dog and camping trip, etc with the 'expensive' camera, so he told me to buy a cheapy, a good one, but one I can use for general family pictures.

I am really a Nikon person, however, my MIL has a Canon Powershot A540 and it seems really nice. I am working with a budget of about $250-$300. I just want to make sure that I get a decent one. Got any ideas? I will pretty much use any brand if the camera is good. Thanks for any help!!

[zrfraser]

I like the A610 a lot and it can be had for about 230 new. I like the swivel lcd even though it may be a little gimmicky and the zoom speed is fast enough for me. The only problem is noise at anything over 200 ISO, great outdoors camera not so much indoors.

Z