Hal, just before I left Japan, I spent the last two months doing extensive research of digital cameras and I really learned a great deal. The other posters are correct when saying megapixels are overrated. The trend today seems to cramming as many MPs into a camera as they possibly can, and doing it with the same small sized sensors in the case of your point and shoot type cameras. Most camera makers use this as a selling point, when the truth is, they're actually decreasing the quality of the pics, and the ability of point and shoots to do well in low light (non-flash) situations. Fuji has a Super CCD Sensor set up in their f40 and Finepix s6000 models along with others, and this sensor is very well known specifically for it's outstanding performance in low light situations. Simply put, you can shoot pics at higher ISO settings, and still get fairly clean shots, whereas almost all other point and shoot cameras get very grainy with ISO settings above 200. The other option you have would be to get into a camera that isn't particularly a great performer with higher ISO settings, but as long as it has Optical (not digital) Image Stabilization, you can keep the camera at a lower ISO setting, and the stabilization will allow you get a decent pic in the lower light situation without a flash.
Cannon is without doubt the most popular maker out there, and their whole "IS" camera come with stabilization. Particularly, the S3 or the S5. They both come with IS, so you would be able to manually keep your ISO set lower, a slower shutter speed, and get away without a flash. I ended up buying the Fuji s8000 fd, and I'm extremely happy with the results. It comes with a pretty nice wide angle lens so I can fit more into a shot without having to take any steps back. Haven't used it to take any cue pics yet, but as for now this baby seems to do really well.
Good luck,
dave
I got a Canon Rebel XTi 10.1MP SLR camera they wanted $699 I got them to match a online competitor for $589 . This is far from what I intended to spend but wife wanted something with a fast shutter speed to catch those quick shots thats easily missed with the kiddos. So this fit the bill. A little hard on the wallet after the battery is charge I will test how well it really takes pics...
