
Sony Cyber-shot W300
The Sony W300 is the first point and shoot to cross 12 mega pixels, stuffing a whopping 13.6 mega pixels into its compact point-and-shoot frame. There are also a few “pro” features thrown in, like high-speed shooting at an impressive 5 frames per second, although they had to drop the megapixel count to just three for that to work. There’s image stabilization built in and ISO up to 6,400. Don’t get too excited about that either, manufacturers usually promise more then they can achieve at the highest ISOs. Still, an ISO of 6,400 makes ISO 1,600 seem like a reasonable proposition.
In addition, to the above, the Sony W300 sports a 3X optical zoom and a reasonable $350 price – its due to ship in May.
Sony Cyber-shot H50

If the optical zoom is really important to you, you might want to opt for the companion Sony Cyber-shot H50, which sports an unusually high 15x optical zoom, but takes down mega pixels down to 9.1. While sacrificing pixels, the Cyber-shot H50 is a more powerful camera in many ways. Besides the optical zoom, which is quite impressive for a point and shoot, the Cyber-shot H50 also rocks a powerful flash. It can illuminate subjects up to 55 feet away. There’s also optical image stabilization as well as a dynamic range optimizer to keep blow outs and highlights in check. Its scheduled to come in at $400 but might just be the more useful camera overall. Point and shoots aren’t usually used to make poster-sized prints, and 9 quality megapixels is enough for gorgeous 8×11 prints. Read More About It