Hello,
I am looking to buy a new camera as I am leaving for Australia at the end of the year. I am looking at compact digital cameras as I would like something that fits into my pockets. My camera will mainly be used at concerts, sporting events, trips and just regular day photography. My budget is roughly $400. I am simply looking for the camera that takes the best quality pictures in that price range. I know zoom quality is restricted with compacts which is why I need help in finding the best camera for that without going to a SLR camera. I have looked at a few cameras including:

- Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-T90 12.1MP Digital Camera
- Sony Cyber-Shot W270 12.1MP Digital Camera
- Nikon Coolpix S620 12.2MP Digital Camera
- Olympus Stylus 9000 12 MP Digital Camera
- Sony Cyber-shot DSCH20 10.1 MP Digital Camera

Again, I am looking for something smallish that fits in my pocket, with excellent picture quality and quality with zoom (optical zoom?) and within the $400 range.

Would you recommend one of these or another one?

Thank you very much for your help and time.

Sincerely,
Ty

Among those four cameras you mentioned, I will go for Sony DSC H20. It has the most zoom, 10x. By the way, if you consider the Canon brand, there is one model named Powershot SX200 IS. It's the 12MP camera featuring 12x optical zoom. It's smaller than the Sony DSC H20. In addition, it is available in 3 colors.

Hope this help.

I Have been looking at the Fuji Finepix S1500 10 megs and 12X zoom -----------$185.00 delivered.. I am looking for a camera to fit in my fishing vest and this one looks very compact and has alot of features that I loke such as panaramic mode plus all your manual mode are availavble. You might take a look at this entry. I had a S5000 and It took some really good photos and the zoom is great

if you can stretch to it and want the best in compacts have a look at the canon g10