Thinking of changing my camera from time to time, an HP 945 from 2004 with a grain of sand in it, issues with memory card and strange behaviors lately.
I'm seeking a compact camera, solid as Sarah well described, and possibly having an in-built HDR function (see Vid's article about HDR)
Any idea?

Canons S-95, has the same image quality as the G12, but way smaller of a camara. I have last years model, the S-90, and I love it. Very small, and compact, shoots great low light images, raw format, and good high ISO shots. The camara is small for the hand, so I put two cords on . One on the camara, and one on the case. Both have small carabiners to clip to my pack,just incase it drops. If I was buying a new camara today, I might consider the LX5 over the S-95?????

Been shooting w/ the Panasonic TZ-5 (the predecessor to the models mentioned above) and I have been really impressed with the image quality and color. So much so that I just got myself the new GF-2, which is the micro 4/3 w/ interchangeable lens option. A pretty fantastic cross between DSLR and PAS. It got put through the ringer this weekend, too, between a fall, snow, water, etc. Loving what I have seen thus far. It's a little above your price range, but not much, and B+H has it on sale:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Nt ... Search=yes

I just bought this Sony, haven't used it yet but will this weekend. I used Cnet.com and what I've read here about other cameras this looks to be a very nice camera. In a lot of categories it rates high. Anyone have this camera? I wanted much more....but finances said this works.

http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cameras/sony-cyber-shot-dsc/4505-6501_7-34547260.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody

Another good camera with 28 mm WA lens, RAW capabaility and 720p Video in a compact form is the http://www.dpreview.com/products/olympus/compacts/oly_xz1

Two years ago I sat on the fence between the predecessor to the current Panasonic DMC-ZS8 (16x digital zoom! but who can hold it still for that?) and the Fuji F70 (then 10x), going with the latter only because my local dealer handled it and not the other. My usual partner has an earlier Panasonic. They seem both excellent for our purposes: under a half pound, great zoom, good enough point-and-shoot modes, so perfect for the shirt pocket grab-and-shoot w/out slowing down the climbing or hiking.

The Chief wrote:Rollei XS-10

Wow, only $100 too. Well if you can find one, seems everyone is out of stock.