My enthusiasm for the Panasonic FZ7 has waned down. DPReview's review of it stated that photos taken above 100ISO are generally not usable. After looking at the sample photos for myself, I really can't argue with such a conclusion.
The next candidate on my list is the Panasonic TZ-1. A 10x zoom camera that's only 1.5" thick. It has a new Venus 3 engine that will be better (one hopes) at eliminating noise. Unfortunately, there are no manual controls, and I am still debating wether I can forego that.
Besides, I am toying with an idea of getting the Pannie ultra zoom for day time photos, and a pocketable Fuji F30 for night time/social events. The F30 should be out by May, has manual exposure and the ISO is selectable to up to 3200! I have doubts about the quality of photos when the sensitivity is set that high, but their F10 did produce decent shots at ISO 1600. I am ready to accept the fact that perhaps you can't have it all in one cam.
Meanwhile, Canon just announced a bunch of cameras - including new ones from their reliable and tiny Elph line. Those now have optical stabilization (!), ISO 800, 4x zoom. One of them (the SD630) has a 3" LCD. The Canon S3 utlra zoom was also announced, but I am not considering. Too bulky/heavy. The new
Axxx series is definately something to think about, though.
I'll comment more and in detail on those new cameras later.
Just a word of advice, if you recently bought a digital camera and can still return it - do so. There'll be a ton of new cameras coming out in the next week that have killer features and don't cost that much more.
Who the heck buys a camera weeks before the PMA, anyway? ;)