Many people are lead to believe great images cannot be captured with simple point & shoot cameras. That you need to go out and spend $1200 on a DSLR and $1000 on a lens. The reality is this is not true.

Most people will never truly benefit from owning a large cache of camera gear.

This is where the K.I.S.S method of thinking really shines through. If you are not planning on starting a career in photography, there are plenty of cameras with excellent optics and features in the point & shoot category that will suit your needs.

For example: Nikon, Canon, Pentax, Fuji, Olympus, and Panasonic all offer what is called a “Hybrid Camera.” These are the bridge between very simple P&S cameras and full blown DSLR’s. These cameras feature up to 20x zooms, decent image sensors, coated optics, and built in processing that allow these cameras to turn on fast and take quick shots of the kids running around, or stuff you want to post on craigslist.

There is now a new category of cameras, just above the ones mentioned previously. These mini-DSLR cameras have large image sensors, swappable lenses, and great image quality in a simple and small package. However, they are not cheap. Nikon, Pentax and Olympus have opened this market up to butting photographers looking for that interchangeability of professional cameras, in a more manageable platform.

You will spend more than $300 but less than $1000 to get started with these mini DSLRs. Not easy on the wallet of most people today.

I still stay you should consider the Hybrid cameras as the best of the bunch. These gems have great ergonomics, they have come down in price considerably, combine both optical and digital zoom and have great built in flashes. Some even have flash shoes if you want to add an external flash or flash remote to fire off camera flashes.

Most of my favorite party-pics were taken with a Panasonic FZ-28 I had a few years ago. Great colors, action, depth of field, and most of all, I didn’t have to lug around my huge bag of lenses.