well it all comes down to your personal needs, you want a camera as a personal hobby (photography), as a blank to fill in the list of gadgets in your drawer, a family want/need.
and don't
EVER buy Sony or Lumix (Panasonic), whilst they are both very highly trust able brand names, they know s h i t about making Camera, ever wonder why there DLSR's are so friggin' cheap...?, thats because no one really buys them, well at least no one with a bit of knowledge about Camera's, how about this, my point an click Nikon L5 7.0 meg Cam (as I've tested and am enthusiast in the field) is as good a (and I s h i t you not!) 12 meg Sony "cybershot", if you're looking to buy a nice point and click or even a DSLR, then the only options I'd suggest are anything among Nikon, Cannon, Olympus, Minolta, and if you can afford to then Hasselblad, these are the top 5 Camera manufacturers in the world.
personally to any one I'd suggest the Nikon D90 DSLR which is not out in every market yet, but its worth every single penny, its 12 megs, upto 7 fps (making it faster then the Cannon EOS 1Ds Mark III's fps of 5, at the moment the best professional camera available in the market @ nearly $12,000 for the kit, although I'd have a Nikon D3 over it anyday!, 9 fps is to blame for that

), and is the worlds first DSLR to record video and not just any Video, video in 720p quality, that means @ 30 fps (frames per seconds) its video recording capabilities are on par with some of the best Sony Handycams ($900+ in price), all that for just around $1,800 for the body plus 18/105 lens, the price might be steep but trust me its worth it!.
here's a preview of the Nikon D90
www . youtube . com / watch?v=mwG86ym3Ucg , the Video played in that preview has not been fiddled around with in any way, and Nikon has guaranteed that if the D90 produces video any lower then shown, will be fully refundable with cash.
if you've got any questions related to Camera's or anythings else in my other fields of interest, just feel free to stop my profile and ask me whatever you want to

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besta luck if you havent made the mistake of purchasing that "cybershot", and petty if you already did

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