You should look at a real digital SLR if you need any or all of the following features:

reliability; SLR bodies almost never fail; by comparison, point and shoot cameras are built for light weight and low cost big bright accurate optical viewfinder good quality images in low natural light, e.g., indoors without blasting everything with flash ability to attach specialty lenses, e.g., very wide angle lenses for interiors, scenery, and architecture, or long telephoto lenses for sports photography Choosing the right camera system is covered in a separate article on this server: "Building a Digital SLR System".

Accessories You might want a lens cleaning kit.

A must have is at least one additional memory card. Most of the compact digital cameras take SD cards. If you are taking JPEG photos rather than RAW, you'll be able to fit between 250 and 500 images in a 1 GB card.

1 GB SD cards: SanDisk 2 GB SD cards: SanDisk 4 GB SD cards: SanDisk (good for a long trip into a remote area where you can't copy images to a computer) It is much more convenient to use a single memory card for an entire project or trip rather than using multiple cards.

If you want to wear the camera on your belt consider purchasing a small padded case. Lowe and Tamrac are generally the highest quality brands. The manufacturers' own brand cases are generally the lowest quality.

Tamrac publishes a useful fit chart. Lowepro's is a huge PDF.

Tamrac Ultra Compact Tamrac T17 Tamrac Digital 1 (slimmer digital cameras, plus extra pocket) Tamrac Digital 2 (compact cameras) Tamrac Digital 3 (SLR-like) If you have time and a good local shop, it is best to buy the case in person so that you can make sure you like the fit.