Don't get too hung up on megapixels. They only start to matter much if you enlarge past 8x10". As in film photography a quality lense is far more important and the quality of your image is based on the quality of the processer inside the camera ( the brain ). There are prfessional photographers using 6 pixel cameras that are worth over a thousand dollars for the body only. Most people will rarely print past 5x7 and almost never crop or edit the pictures. Most point & shoots are all about equal in processor quality and glass for a given price point. The price climbs with features like lcd screen size. Right now 8 pixels and 3x zoom is the biggest part of the point & shoot range.