Quick advice: pocket camera

[msmemory_archive]

Based on the research I've had time to do, and my current (old) Nikon Coolpix camera, I'm thinking I want to upgrade to more megapixels, more memory, higher ISO, and AA batteries, which added together comes up with the Coolpix L12. (current street price $130-180).

Anybody got any better ideas? At this time I don't want a large SLR emulator digital camera - if I want to use SLR features I'll break out the perfectly usable 35mm film camera.

ETA: The more investigation I do, the less likely I am to go for an L12. CNet's review tells me I'll be frustrated with it:
http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cameras/nikon-coolpix-l12/4505-6501_7-32319122.html?ar=o&tag=pdtl-list
Grrr. I do want ISO control, and the ready refresh rate is one of the negative points on my current camera.

Comments

Not familiar with Nikon, but...

[metageek.livejournal.com]

I'm not familiar with Nikon; I tried one, three cameras ago (er, early 2004, I guess), but it had the unfortunate property of making bright colors come out extra garish—a problem when taking pictures of young kids with bright-colored toys and clothes. ;-)

So, a general braindump.

If you need to use the flash often, I recommend avoiding Kodak; their flashes are badly underpowered.

Olympus and Fuji use xD Picture Cards, which they invented themselves. xD cards (and readers) are generally more expensive than comparable models of Secure Digital and Compact Flash. They're also harder to find, which could be a problem if you're on vacation and need extra storage. That said, Olympus in particular makes some very good optics. My dad's got a C4040, from about 5 years ago, which had a really good lens for low-light situations, such as museums where you're not allowed to use flash. Unfortunately, they abandoned that lens after the 5050. Oh, and my mom's got a Fuji Lumix, with a 10x zoom lens that folds up inside the camera somehow, so that you get a, mmm, pursable camera (not really pocketable, unless you've got big pockets) with a nice long zoom. I think the tradeoff is that it's not as good in low-light conditions, though.

Then there's Canon, which is where I keep coming back. For a pocketable camera, I strongly recommend Canon's SD line. Very small, good optics, good flash, reasonable manual controls. Oh, and some of them have image stabilization, which is an amazingly useful feature. (Image stabilization is fairly common these days—but avoid any camera who offers "digital image stabilization", which just means they step down the resolution so you can't see the shake.) They don't use AAs, though. However, I think they're smaller than the Nikons, so you might like them.

My current camera is a Canon PowerShot S3 IS, which is not pocketable; it looks like a miniaturized SLR. Good optics, 6 megapixels, 12x zoom, great macro modes, great manual control, and it runs on AAs.