Need New Digital P&S Advice

[stickman.walks]

I want to get a new digital camera to replace the Canon G10 I have. Unlike the prospect of getting a new DSLR, which typically leave one to wade thru the Canon vs. Nikon debate, I am finding this task way more difficult simply due to the wide array of manufacturers offering pretty solid models.

10mp seems standard fare. I`ve found plenty of offerings with fast lenses in the 1.8 - 2.0 starting range (some fixed focal length, some zooms). But with all the talk about this camera has a larger processor or that camera has a better JPEG processing engine or the other camera is better because blah, blah, blah - how to ever make a decision?

I`m at a $600 budget for this. Knowing that I can`t always physically walk closer to my subject, I would say that I strongly lean toward a zoom over a fixed focal length lens. And yea, I would like a high quality, fast lens.

The G10 is solidly built. The lens can be a little noisy sometimes. The build quality of the camera is solid, as is all the G Series cams. So I could just as easily go for a new G12, but because of the bulkiness of it, a strap is always needed and if I want to lug around something, I might as well just go with a DSLR. I`d like something compact and as close to pro quality.

So there are a handful to pick from. But each time one seems good enough, I see a review that craps all over the image quality vs lens brightness vs image stabilization vs this, that and the other thing.

How much should the lens brightness matter? I could go with the Olympus XZ-1 which has a nice zoom at 1.8 - 2.5, which seems to kick the butt off of the Canon S95. But then someone I`ve read that Canon uses either bigger/better processor or the overall IQ is better with Canon, etc.

Ideas of where to go with this?