Zoom is one of our favorite features. Megapixels be damned—we want to be able to take grainy shots of distant birds from the comfort of our bath tub. Therefore, Sony, with its Cyber-shot H1, is just great. Offering 12x optical zoom, a big 2.5" screen, and VGA movies, this camera is nothing to pee yourself about, but it's a nice form factor and the reviewers certainly consider it a competitor to similar SLR-looking cameras.
Priced at $499, this camera has flash, lots of manual controls, and 7 scene selection modes. Apparently it's quite a contender when compared with similar Olympus and Canon models.
Sony Cyber-shot H1 Review [DPReview]