Compact camera

Hey everyone.

So, I like taking pictures.. A lot. But not enough for me to justify actually bringing my DSLR wherever I go. It's just too bulky, and I often find myself in situations where I wouldn't really want to have anything that valuable on me (high hazard environments such as PARTIES with tremendous amounts of liquid flying through the room and a potential risk of getting so drunk you forget your belongings).

However, I also often find myself in situations where I kinda wish I could just pop out a camera and take a picture of what might feel like a once-in-a-lifetime chance for a nice shot of something. One solution could be to drink responsibly and always carry my camera bag around for when I leave home (lol).

Another solution could be to get a compact camera, but be that as it may, I have no clue whatsoever of the development in this area. I'd really love something cheap, as I'm a poor student, and it's just a backup cam, bust rest assured, I want it to be able to take decent pictures, and I'd like some functionality as well.

For this, I'd like something that could potentially be used as a backup for landscapes, buildings, roadkill, hessi or whatever else comes my way, as well as being something I could bring to a party to take some pictures of random people. And I'd like it to actually fare pretty well.

I don't know if price cancels out functionality, but I'm thinking there must have been some development lately, and the last cam I had of a compact size was about 1 MP.

I heard something about the ixus being decent, but I'm checking out the market before just acquiring the first I come across. So, uh.. To sum it up:

Jacket pocket-compact

Cheap

Functionalities (Iunno, shutter settings, iso speed, optical zoom?, red-eye removal, all that junk)

Nice battery lifetime? I'd prefer a battery with a charger.

Nice picture quality.

Nice autofocus.. I'd hate to get a backup cam to finally take all these pictures only to realize the cam can't focus if it's life depended on it (and it will!).

I don't know if I'm being too demanding, but I'm hoping for the first two points with a nice compromise for the rest. I realize I can't really expect a full dslr in compact form ;o

Finally, the price limit.. I really don't know.. But I'd be happy to keep it around £100 +/- £20. If that is at all realistic.

-Edit/Update-

I've taken a look at the Nikon Coolpix s210, and was wondering if any of you have anything to say about it, good or bad. Anyway, I'm open to suggestions.

Which canon are we talking about ? :x

Well, I've been looking at the ixus, and it seems pretty decent.. If it gets more expensive than that, however, I think it's a bit out of my price range and purpose.

I already have a Canon EOS D30. It's a rather old model by now but it's a pretty good camera.

Thanks for your help anyway, I'll take a thorough look at it and try to figure out more about these models.

What do I get by going for a canon ixus compared to say a nikon coolpix or a Fuji J/A or F series? They pretty much seem to have the same specs, but the price is a lot different. I can't quite see where the difference lies here.

I decided to go with a Nikon for now, as it seemed to be the cheapest and the most compact. I haven't bought it yet though. I put it on my wish list for Christmas, just to see if I can get out of actually paying for it

The general idea is really it's supposed to be compact over everything else. If I go somewhere with the intent of taking quality pictures, I'll bring my DSLR, but it's nice to have a smaller cam as a backup I can just carry around everywhere and not worry about not being able to capture a certain moment. The quality is really just a bonus. However, looking at the features offered and the quality of some of the pictures I've seen from this, and other cams, I must say I'm amazed about how far they've come on this market, and how great these pictures look from such small and very inexpensive cameras.

Thank you all for your opinions. I hope to have a cam after Christmas or through January (some other expenses just came up. Damn nightlife, damn girls).