After thinking a lot on the brand to buy( a big investment needs research right) I decided on a nikon. Simply because they have the best cameras film based or digital. Firms like canon and sony may have been here for a long time but have never made cameras earlier...
Its a 4.2 megapixel camera with 3x optical and 10x digital zoom.. I got a few gr8 pics of sachin at mohali with it. The zoom is really great. You can effectively get a print quality photo after a 3x optical and 3x digital zoom.
I like the fact that one can directly transfer pics onto a laptop or pc via a usb port . It would have been better if it had a IR port though.
It has a few drawbacks though especially its weak night mode as compared to sony...
And if ur batteries conk out, u cant use, then off the shelf batteries. In an emergency u have to wait full 10 hours for the batteries to charge.
Overall a gr8 camera with awesome Image Quality