What camera should I buy?
By far, this might be one of the single most questions I see asked. Shockingly, despite it's frequency, it never seems to garner any good responses. Of course this might be caused by the fact that while it's all to common of a question, noones needs are the same, but there is a load of other issues that make it such a loaded question.
If you go to any photography forum and ask this question, the first hing you might notice is that you probably laid the seeds for a brand war. The Canon guys swear by Canon, the Nikon guys get vicious towards anything but and the Fuji guys are some of the most defensive I have ever seen.
Then of course, you get your smartasses and they'll post a photograph of a shiny new Hasselblad H3D. Funny, but most of us don't have the type funds that could buy a house in some parts of the world.
Okay, which type takes better photos?
Easy. None of the above. Every one of these types of cameras is capable of capturing stunning images. The key factor in that department is the operator. After all, a camera is just a box and no matter how many microchips and processors they shove into them, it is still an extension of the person using it. It is up to you to make the camera perform up to its own capabilities and to effectively do that, a solid understanding of the photographic medium is required. However, while they're all competent pieces of equipment, you'll find that each has it's limitations you'l quickly learn the shortcomings of each. For example, shooting birds from a distance at a wetlands centre with a compact is probably not the best option.
Now I'm really confused!
So what you need to do now is decide how you want to use a camera. If you're only aim is to record your family as it grows than either a compact or a creative compact is best for you. If you vacation quite often and want a little more control in constantly changing conditions than I would suggest a creative compact. If you plan to invest a good amount of time into learning photography and are willing to pull out all the stops when creating images than a SLR is the choice.
Of course this lists only a few situations and everyone's is different; therefore, each person will come to a different choice. Your very best bet is to go to a store and play with all the cameras they have. Then, visit some review sites and thumb through a few magazines. Now go back to the store, as you have a better idea of what's available, and play around some more. Try not to fall into the branding trap and most certainly don't let any sales assistants fill your head with the glories of mostly useless features. Just find which one is more comfortable to you and in the end everything will come into place.
Oh and don't necesarily think that you should get the absolute best to start out with. No matter what you buy, if you carry on with photography, I guarantee you'll want to upgrade sooner rather than later anyway.