Canon PowerShot S2 IS

The good: Optical image stabilizer; Ultra-sonic Motor; 12x optical zoom; super macro shooting.
The bad: Lens cap a hassle to deal with; manual pop-up flash; little space in between control dials.
The bottom line: An upgrade from the PowerShot S1 IS, this camera aims to please consumers who want to shoot like a pro.
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Sony Cyber-shot DSC-R1

The good: Excellent image quality; an impressively flexible LCD screen that's viewable from many angles; a sharp Zeiss lens; effective white-balancing features; a wide range of ISO sensitivity; quick performance.
The bad: With most heavy components on the left side, the chunky body is somewhat off-balance; can't shoot RAW in burst mode; the in-camera review function magnifies to only 5x.
The bottom line: If you don't anticipate a need for multiple lenses--which many users won't, given the crisp 24mm-to-120mm-equivalent lens with a maximum aperture of F2.8--the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-R1 makes a worthy competitor to the dSLRs in its price range. It's a handy, versatile camera with excellent image quality.
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Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30

The good: Better-looking design compared with the FZ20; free-angle LCD allows for various shooting angles; 12x optically stabilized, manual zoom lens; supports RAW and TIFF file format shooting; high-speed autofocus metering modes; above-average performance.
The bad: Lack of dedicated buttons; control wheels hard to reach at times; mediocre accompanying software for RAW file conversion; noisy images especially under low-light conditions.
The bottom line: If you own the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20, it's probably time for an upgrade to a much better-looking model, but don't expect too much on the image quality.
  Read full review of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30