Oh, Man! I haven't checked this account forever! I'm sure your birthday has been and gone, but here's my answer anyway!
I'm a Canon Girl. I'd recommend the Canon G10, which is often called a "baby DSLR". It has some advanced point and shoot features that are super nice! Not exactly sure of price though, right now. Otherwise, the Olympus xz1 gets good reviews and it is right around $500.
I have been eying this one for a while
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/Nikon-Coolpix-P7000-Digital-Zoom-Nikkor/dp/B00427ZLRO/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8&qid=1304565099&sr=8-20