Buy Fuji with super ccd or Nikon. I personally dont like olympus (nor hp, canon,..), makes too much white, not so natural colours, but depends on model, see for yourself anyway.. Check all the reviews and Test Pictures(!) at
www.steves-digicams.com
www.dpreview.com
that Olympus 5050 mentioned above here is from 600..
My fav is still
Nikon 4300 (appr 460) or
5400 (750) if you need a big-lense almost professional automatic but manually full adjustable whatever.
From Fuji maybe this guy:
S304 aka 3800 has 3megapix and all goodies for 287usd (here appr 330eur).
Sonys are OK but nothing cool, they are usually too expensive cos u need to pay for the brand name.
i prefer ones operating with AA batteries, you can charge them or you can just buy a battery on the way wherever.. instead of looking for a plug.
SM cards are old but cheap
CF cards are old, big, but cheap and bigger capacity and very quick
cards are little, can be big capacity but not cheap
MMC and sonys memory stick and that are too expensive
some big prof. machines can use 1GB microdrives.