I will swear by my old Kodak digital cameras!!
I started out by getting a 3.1 Kodak C something or other in 2004. I was really unsure about what to do with digital at the time. It seemed like such a downgrade from my Canon Elan 7 SLR. I figured it would be a nice throw around camera for my pocket, and there weren't many buttons to overwhelm myself. Well, it produced nice colors and more! Then, I had to upgrade. I caught digital fever!
I got a DX7630 in 2006, which was a 6.1mp. LOVED IT! I caught some amazing shots that I have yet to be able to reproduce. Crystal clear pictures... I still have it to this day. Then my next upgrade was because I wanted a better zoom for concerts. So I got a 12x zoom with my Z612 in 2007. This camera was amazing and blew away many of the other zoom digitals that I looked at during that time period! It was also my back up camera when I did not want to lug my D40X around that I got in December 2007. While on vacation, I had both cameras with me. My D40X dropped on the bathroom floor, rendering it unusable on my vacation! I was mortified!! I reluctantly used my Z612. In the end, I look back at the pictures, and realize that the pictures were of amazing quality!
So in the end, Kodak rocks!
I have since started using a Nikon P&S because my Z612 got wet last summer, but only because I started to really use my manual features and that camera had what I wanted!
If anyone wants examples of the above, I can definitely share!