"Shutterbug" magazine usually has some good tech review issues. But yeah, gotta say Eric hit it on the head. You're not going to go wrong with a Canon or Nikon (they, as far as I know, have not gotten stingy on their optics, even on the lower models), but will pay a few extra bucks for the name. Kodak, if I'm not mistaken, still uses Zeiss optics in their point-n-shoot cameras (Carl Zeiss optics can be found in most high-quality sniper scopes, spotting scopes, telescopes, and binoculars, just to give you an idea how good they are). Olympus, Fuji, off-brands, and some low-end Sony cameras have been found to have cheap optics. As far as megapixels go, the larger the number, the bigger your files are going to be. Printing an 8x10 only needs like 8Mpix, and you'll still get razor sharp images if you have good optics and a steady hand/tripod. Anything larger than that is pretty much just wasted card space. As for price...sales these days are insane. You should easily be able to find something in the $100 ballpark.