Looking for a Point and Shoot Camera to Buy

Hello all!

I am a first time poster on these forums, and have found them by searching on Google. I was looking for a good resource that would be able to help me choose the kind of camera that's right for me. I've always been partial towards the Canon Powershot series, however I want to get a camera that will definitely suit my needs.

First and foremost, I am not looking to get into photography as a profession or really even a hobby. I'm looking for a camera that will take decent pictures of things when I'm on vacation and such (IE I'm in Outer Banks, NC this week and would've loved a real camera to use). I like having some options to control how the pictures look and resolution and such. A long battery life is a must!

I definitely don't want to look at anything too expensive. If there is anything out there that is cheap and suitable for me, then I'm more than willing to look more into it. I would like to spend less than $250, however if a camera is incredibly worth it then I will give it some more consideration on the budget.

Please feel free to ask me any more questions that will help you inform me as to what is the better buy!

Does anyone have any recommendations?

Point-and-shoots have a lifetime on the marketplace of about 9 months, there are hundreds of them to choose from and most of them are based on the same components. The quality of the results that you get is limited by the small size of the sensor. Most of the contributors to this forum are enthusiasts who go for systems with larger sensors (Olympus EP-1, Sony NEX, DSLR's).

I just bought a Canon S95 which looks like a Point-and-Shoot but is intended for Experts. It's cleverly designed so that the things you usually need to set (example with a pro DSLR) are available to you without having to plunge into menus. I'm just working my way round it and I should write a review in a few weeks time. I wouldn't recommend for you. It's $400 for a camera which only has 10Mpix and a 3.8x zoom but that's just what I wanted for other reasons..

The Panasonic ZS7 is a good choice, its got a nice balance of both still/video features and a good long zoom lens. If you're interested into exploring photography as a hobby, you might be interested in either of the new Canon G12 or Panasonic LX5

Or get the previous generations LX3 at a good bargain now which is almost identical performance wise to the LX5 but without the AVCHD video capability.

I think you would be better off looking for a used DSLR. Olympus E-510s go for not much more than $250.00 and will smoke most P&Ss.