Being a photographer id recommend the canon ixus,anything above 8 megapixel and the new ones have anti shake,or IS with a face recognition and auto red eye reduction...
They are small and compact but take an amazing photo for a little handheld.a lot easier than lugging a DSLR with you,not only that you do need a little knowledge with a DSLR as you need to think iso,aperture shutters etc for a perfect shot..Most of the little ones take just as good on auto or semi auto modes
Another good one is the Finepix ones,they come above 8 megapixels too,a range of funky colors,anti shake etc etc,if you set the settings of these cameras onto say a fine mode or a larger file you can print poster size with no loss of image quality or very minimal..ie not pixelated or blocky or unclear
they retail between 200-600 dollars depending on what you want to spend
Me personally-Canon ixus,all my gear is Canon
Bon