Point and shoot cameras

Hi,

I am looking for a point and shoot cameras. I want a camera with light weight that could be easily put in pockets as well as that has maximum optical zoom. I have looked for 3 cameras:
1. Nikon coolpix S550
2. Nikon coolpix S560
3. canon SD890 IS

The S550 camera is too compact but on reviews I have heard that its picture quality is poor in dark conditions.
For S560 it has not been released now so have not heard of any review.
For SD890 IS have heard of good quality photograph in a compact camera, but the problem is that its design is not so simple. I am really confused after looking all reviews.

Could anyone suggest me which camera is better and worth to purchase?

I have a Nikon Coolpix L18 and I love it. I just started in photography and it has been my best investment. If I could help you narrow your search a little. Go with Nikon.
Snap it up
Naz

It's a little bigger but has great zoom range (wide angle even!) and has good image quality. Panasonic TZ5.

Hi

Thanks for suggesting Panasonic TZ5 and Nikon L18.
I am not interested in bigger cameras. I have left the option of Canon SX100 IS, as it is bulky although it provides the same feature as provided by Panasonic TZ5. I am interested in ultra compact camera which has zoom more than 4x therefore Nikon L18 does not suits my requirement. Therefore I have found these three cameras to be suitable for that.
1. Nikon S550
2. Nikon S560
3. Canon SD890 IS
I have also looked into Canon SD850 IS which is said to be better than Canon SD890 IS but the zoom of SD850 is less than that of SD890.
If I compare Nikon and Canon, I could not be able to figure out which is the best in cameras?
Regarding Nikon S560, it has not yet been released so there is no review comments for this camera. So could not judge on that.

Well the good news is that Canon just announced the SX110IS as a replacement for the SX100IS. That means a price cut on the SX100IS is coming.

As for the others you listed, I think you're starting to fall into the "more MP must be better myth." It isn't. Let me explain. I came across an interesting article today about how more mega pixels is not necessarily a good thing. According to Image Engineering – a company that does testing of digital cameras for photo magazines in Germany – the quality of digital pictures has steadily decreased since the state of the art was six megapixels back in 2004. And because they don’t have a “dog in this hunt,” they put forth a compelling argument for buying new digital cameras with less mega pixels and not more.

The argument is essentially this: CCD chips on point and shoot cameras a smaller and as such, fitting in more pixels causes them to lose light sensivity. Sure, there’s more data on the chip, but the chip can’t absorb the light data and what it ends up with is a picture that has more noise than image quality. In addition, the more megapixels a camera has, the larger the lens it needs to provide the clarity it deserves and prevent diffraction due to a loss of detail with smaller apertures. But since we’re talking portable point and shoots here, those large lenses simply aren’t being made.

Finally, with larger mega pixels comes longer saving time due to their requires huge storage capacity, or more compression if not storing images in RAW format. The result is a noisier image and a dissatisfied camera user who thirsts for high quality and speed but fell into the trap of "more must mean better."

In the end, relying on a smaller MP that can balance all these needs may indeed be a better answer. And that leads me back to the SX100IS.