I bought a Canon A620 brand new on ebay for $300. It is a 7.1MP and i don't have to explain the quality of Canon cameras. My old camera was a Kodak that was around 3mp and the quality on that camera flat out sucked. It had a grainy picture when printed out. My new Canon produces pictures that are the same if not better than regular film cameras. A comparable one that is more compact is the Canon SD500 (or you can downgrade to a lower SD model).