TN Folk, I need your help.

I am looking to get a Digital Camera as a birthday gift. I have some pretty simple qualifications: small and compact, point-and-shoot (No DSLRs), preferably HD Video 720p, and a nice LCD Screen. My budget is about $250 dollars. Basically, I'm looking for a pocketable camera that I can take a variety of places (Football/Hockey Games, Trips, anywhere...) The important part is it must be pocketable and fairly small. I'm not looking for the highest quality or crazy features, just a simple point and shoot that takes good pictures and can fit in my pocket.

So far the best camera I have found is the Sony Cybershot DSC T90. It's compact, lightweight, 12MP, all the goodies I want. I'm looking to stay with Canon or Sony, but I'm willing to explore other brands as well.

Any and all suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

Hey Kyle! Looks like you want more simple with some quality. Easy to use is great too.

A lot of the point and shoots in the canon brand is 10 mp. Nothing really above that if you don't want to spend over 250.

Here are a few that I would recommend...

PowerShot E1 Digital Camera

PowerShot SD780 IS Digital Camera <---This one is a 12 mega pixel. Not sure on price though.

Canon PowerShot A480 digital camera

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I like my 6x optical zoom on my Canon 720is but it takes too long for flash recharges.

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I have a Sony Cybershot H10. It's on sale at Amazon for about $250. I recommend buying a second battery which can cost up to $50, but the camera can take a lot of AMAZING pictures. It's excellent for it's value. A very nice, colorful screen, 10x optical zoom (20x digital) has video, slide show, and there's even a small touch up program on it (Sepia, blur, Black and White, etc.) It takes great pictures of moving objects (IE coasters) so you should be fine with the sports and stuff. It does take very fast pictures, but there's a little trick to make it take pics as fast as possible. If you do have time to prepare, partly press down the take picture button (I admit I do not know the proper name for it) to wait for green boxes to appear - that is the Steady Shot system activating, and wherever the green boxes are on the screen, that is where the camera will focus. Hold it down until you see the right moment and then click, when in that way it will take the picture very quickly. Otherwise it can take up to a second or so, making timing for oh say, a train going exactly half way through a loop, quite difficult.

I currently have a very old Sony 4MP camera, and the shutter button works the same way. Photos are best produced when the button is held down half-way to setup the image prior to taking it.

I've always used Sony's which is why I'm inclined to stay Sony. Thanks for all the suggestions thus far!

Pushing the shutter button halfway down on most of those types of cameras is autofocus. It also sets up the exposure if you're in automatic so you get the best shot. It's a good idea to use it with every shot you take except low-light situations.

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I've been a pro photographer for many years and if you are not going with DSLR, Sony is definatly one of the better companies to go with. The fully manual mode works really well too if you want to experiment with it.

I looked at Sony digital cameras and there were some very nice ones. I ended up going with an Olympus Stylus 9000. It's a good all around camera. A bit bulky, but well worth it for the 10X optical zoom.

I decided on the Sony DSC-W290. Thank you guys for all your suggestions!