I agree; I'm often hesitant to even use my SLR in public, even though they're quite common around here. It's something about the foot-long lens that I prefer, I suppose.
I'll use my compact camera to 'play' occasionally, and I do find that I'm able to take photos with it that I simply wouldn't even point a camera at with my SLR. Unfortunately I'm almost always disappointed when I
do get a good picture that I didn't use my SLR for its far superior image quality.
I agree with both the initial and second reactions of Michael Reichmann at Luminous Landscapes, who got me looking at the Sony W300. He writes in a recent
overview:
"My first thought when I read about the W300 was – Good grief – 13.6 Megapixels from a 1/1.7" sensor on a body the size of a tin of Altoids. Will the madness never end?
But then, after just a few hours of shooting with the W300 my thoughts were – How come nobody is talking about how astonishingly good this little camera is? Image quality is really fine up to ISO 400 on Super A3 sized prints, or even larger. Quite remarkable."
If it's an unobtrusive and easy camera that I wanted, it's one that I would seriously consider. It still has the 'take pictures my way or else' attitude of a P&S, but the quality does seem pretty good.