You can get a Nikon D60 with 18-55mm lens for $550. For that price it really doesn't make much sense to buy a compact unless you're looking for something that will fit in your pocket. If you do buy a compact keep in mind that more zoom (like 12x optical) isn't really a good thing, with more zoom comes less sharpness, I would personally stick to a 3 or 4 times optical zoom. For compacts the Canon G range is nice, one of the few that allows you to take pictures in RAW and has aperture and shutter speed priority modes, however it's not the smallest compact but probably the best as far image quality and function.
Sorry just read the third post
