The hunt for a digital camera

[Possible target audience: Point-and-shoot low-budgeted amateur digital still camera buyers]

After long-time deliberations about whether or not to buy, finally the question had changed to which. The budget was set - Rs. 15,000 was about how much I could afford. The when and where part had been answered too - G K Vale have (/had) their Camera Fest at the (2nd floor,) Sigma Mall, Cunningham Road, Bangalore from the 15th to 25th December, 2006 where they offered about 10% (they claim upto 50% off) discount on all models.

Cash withdrawn, I went there this lazy monday early-evening. The fest is quite famous seemed like, judging by the crowd. Many of the companies had stall-likes inside the shop - pro's) - model separation, lower confusion, con's) - people at a stall will definitely want products at their stall to get sold over the others, i.e. I couldn't get someone who could impartially tell me which brand was better.

Neat posters displaying the fest models with their MRP and the discounted price were displayed all over the shop, making it easy for us price-conscious buyers.

They had Canon, Kodak, JVC, Olympus, Nikon, Sony, Polaroid, Panasonic, and Samsung, and also claimed to have Casio and Yashica.
Polaroid, Panasonic, JVC and Samsung aren't too established in this particular industry, at least as far as I've heard, so I thought I'll stick to the more-sold brands.
Looking at the Sony models, one word came to mind - "fleece". Kodak too didn't seem to catch my attention - they maybe the best with the film models, but digital is a different ball game, and I somehow thought they'll start fleecing me again with their photo docks.

Now, it was down to three.
Canon. Olympus. Nikon. For my budget, the following models seemed fine:

[Model - MRP - Fest Price]
Look up the specs of these models on their individual official sites or try the digital camera comparison at http://www.opendigitalphotography.com.

Canon:
Powershot A530 - 11,395 - 10,290 [Free 512 MB SD Card]
Powershot A540 - 14,495 - 13,095
(The A630 was 18,000 after discount).

The Canon guy was vehemently insisting I buy the lower end model, the A530, which was apparently the fast selling model which was why they gave the free card only with that.

Nikon:
L1 - 17,100 - 14,535
L2 - 15,500 - 13,175

A free SD card and a case with each of these, apparently.

Olympus:
FE-190 - 14,000 - 13,000
FE-200 - 17,000 - 16,000
Mju-700 - 17,000 - 15,000

A free 512 MB Xd card with each of these.


For possibly the first time in my life, I resisted the temptation to buy something when I had the money and had gone to buy it. (Of course, I'd informed at home I was only going to check out the range and the prices, and would buy only if there was a superb deal ending today, but with me being as lazy as I am, I buy at impulse.) I decided to do another internet based comparison on only these models, so that I could pick one of them and left the mall empty handed.


(continued)
Also, watch out for the post "The n00b's 15k digital camera buying guide".