If you shoot with a DSLR, you know its not always easy to carry a fatty DSLR with you everywhere.  Sometimes you want something that you can just slip in your pocket and go.  There are many point and shoot cameras out there and they rarely stand up to the optical performance, speed and quality of SLR systems with their nice lenses and large image sensors.  So when buying a point and shoot as a camera you can always have on you, why settle for a normal camera?  What do I mean by normal?  I’m currently looking for a point and shoot for myself (I shoot with the 40D and RebelXT) and what’s really catching my eye is all these cameras that have been specialized for various purposes.  I’m looking for a point and shoot camera that can do things my DSLR can not.  As a photographer I want to expand my shooting capabilities so I’m simply not interested in just buying a camera that’s a downgrade from my DSLR.  So far the following features have caught my eye:

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Waterproof: There are waterproof enclosures for DSLRs but they’re obscenely expensive and often cost more than the DSLR body.

Pentax Optio W60 Waterproof 10MP Digital Camera with 5x Wide Angle Optical Zoom (Ocean Blue)

Olympus Stylus 550 WP 10MP Waterproof Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom and 2.5-Inch LCD (Blue)

High Speed Video: The 5dmk2 can shoot HD video but you have no control over frame rate.  You’re stuck shooting 30fps.  These new Casio Exilim cameras can shoot up to 1200fps!  They also shoot Full HD @ 30fps.

Casio High-Speed Exilim EX-FC100 9.1 MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7-inch LCD (Black) (check out the cool video on the product page)

Casio Exilim Pro EX-F1 Digital Camera, 6.0 MP, with 60fps High Speed Burst Mode, Full HD Movies, 12x Optical, 4x Digital Zoom, 2.8 — though this one might be a bit bulky for a pocket-camera.

Other cool features that I saw are touch screen cameras that implement touch AF.  A problem I usually have when I use point and shoot cameras is trying to get a focus lock on my subject when there are other things in the frame.  This would be a nice feature to have in a point and shoot.

(The new iPhone has this feature, but I’m pretty sure I heard of a Nikon camera that has it too — I’ll post a link when I have a chance to find it).

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If you’ve tried out or are using any of the cameras I’ve listed above (or would like to recommend another cool camera) please leave me some comments!