Weddingbee boards

I loved my old Canon Powershot, such a great camera!!  It broke after 2.5 years of getting a LOT of good use.  I already had a DSLR so for Christmas my fiance gave me a new point and shoot - a Nikon Coolpix - I have to say I don't love it.  The shutter speed is slow, it doesn't take the best pictures, for me it gets the job done because if I want quality pictures I use my DSLR, but for times when I'm out at bars or don't want to lug around the big guy, the Nikon is just not the quality I really like ... I would look into the Canon Powershot for a really great point and shoot. 

Good luck!

I second the Canon Powershot.  I got my FH the Canon PowerShot SD880IS 10MP Digital Camera with 4x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom for his BDay.  He really wanted the wide angle and the image stabilization is great especially with longer zooms.  The wide angle does mean sacrificing some zoom, though, but since we do a lot of nature photography I think it's worth it.  I *love* my DSLR (Canon XTI) though.  But it is a bit heavy and bulky for traveling unless you're really into photography (like me).  I also have a Nikon S1, and I think this is a great series of point and shoots (I think it's up to Nikon S7 now).  But I still think the Powershot has some better light and WB settings.  The newest Powershot without the wide angle is the SD1100 I think.  I would read around for reviews, but there are many options for well under $250 on Amazon.  I would recommend investing in a faster, more reliable (and more expensive, often 3-5x) memory card.  It's just not worth it to skimp here b/c you can risk losing all your photos.  But even with the more expensive cards I think you can still stay under your budget pretty easily.

Panasonic Lumix TZ5. I heart it and already forced Mrs. Penguin to buy the same one :-)  We got it for our honeymoon so all of my photos in posts from the honeymoon forward were taken with that camera, if you want to see the kinds of shots it takes. 

I went back and forth between a Nikon D80 and Canon XTi, and in many ways the decision game down to the fact that the canon fit my hand better.  I believe the D40 is much more stripped down feature-wise, so it really depends on your budget and needs.  If you're experienced with film SLR's and digital P&S I don't think that basic use of any of these cameras will be daunting.  It will take longer and lots of practice, though, to use the nifty extras that come along with being digital.  At this point I'm addicted to setting the WB instead of using filters (technically I think you can save the images RAW and edit post-facto in PS but that eats up your memory card and is unnecessarily time-consuming imho).  Overall, and this is a matter of opinion I suppose, I really think that Canon has won the battle for usability and feature design in the consumer/prosumer digital market.  They just seem to have really zeroed in on the features people want.  I don't love the way they organize their menus, but I do think they offer better features.  And the very affordable image stabilizer lenses are a big plus.  That said, I still think the blue response of the Nikon sensors is better so that could sway your decision.  It's a bit unfortunate b/c I think my film Nikon N75 is still my favorite camera ever...but the cost and nuisance of film pushed me to digital.

I would absolutely would recommend a Canon Powershot!  They take great pictures and are affordable.  

For those who are wondering about the difficulty of transitioning to a dSLR, I have a Canon Rebel XT and I love it. I've had it for about a year, and while it is a little daunting at first, it's not too difficult to pick up.  I know how to do most things, but I am actually taking a digital photography class this Spring to hopefully learn a few more tricks.