Nikon Coolpix 3100 (3 megs.) or Nikon Coolpix 4300 (4 megs)
I researched digital cameras for weeks before buying one.
IMHO.. the Nikons will have the best all around results.
Another that is very good is the Fuji Finepix 3800. It has the advantage of a 6x optical zoom. The Nikons ,and most others, only have a 3x optical zoom.
But the Fuji is not as good in low light. Ther is not as much manual control of it either.
I showed my nephew the pics I was taking and he bought a Nikon 4300 also. He is a photography buff.
If a zoom lens is your thing, disregard 'Digital Zoom' when looking. It's 'Optical zoom' that counts.
The Nikon 4300 will take 35mm quality pics up to 8 x 10. And if set on 'auto' it's 'point and shoot'. The pics are perfect, and I'm very critical when it comes to photography.
4300-$450, 3100-$350, Fuji 3800- $350.
I've seen them on the internet substantially cheaper but I opted to by from a local dealer.
Plan on buying a larger memory card than the one that comes with the camera. A 128meg compact flash card is about $75 and will hold ( depending on the resolution setting) about 100+ pics.
I researched for two months before buying the Nikon coolpix 775 Christmas 2001, and the camera has been great.
Even at the smallest file/picture size settings, IMHO the picture quality far surpasses the Sony, Kodak, and Olympus digital cameras I use at work.
Other reasons I chose the Nikon , the time it takes the camera to cycle between pictures, and at the time I bought it, the Nikon was one of the only cameras to come with a camcorder type rechargeble battery.