In addition to above, Sony have just released a couple of new compact models you might be interested in.

Especially the Sony Cyber-shot SDC-TX7. This is quite an expensive one at £285, but it has full HD video recording built in, so could be a great solution for both video and stills photography. It records video in 1080i AVCHD format with stereo Dolby Digital audio and the reviews are saying the quality is very good.

There is also the Sony Cyber-shot SDC-TX5 which offers the same 10.2MP as the TX7, but is designed to be waterproof, shockproof and cold proof, so if you were intending taking it when doing sports it could be a good option. It is about the same price as the TX7, but offers a smaller touch screen and only 720p video recording, so if video recording was an important element then the TX7 would be the one to look at with a larger 3.5" widescreen touchscreen, 1080i video and loads of other features.

I think that although Sony still use their own slightly more expensive Memory sticks the slight cost over standard SD/CF cards is worth it if you like one of these 2 models. Worth trying them out in a shop though to see if you get on with the touchscreen interface. They also have a cool panoramic mode where you can simply rotate the camera and it works it out for you.