Panasonic bridge cameras are well worth looking at... I have a little Panasonic DMC-FZ62 (I think it's the DMC-FZ60 in the US) that can be picked up used for USD $150 or considerably less depending on condition. It produces excellent quality images given the class of camera and sensor size, has plenty of automatic and semi-automatic modes and full manual control. The EVF is decent too. About the only thing missing is raw file capture, but you can't really grumble at that for the price. It's so light and easy to handle. On days where I don't want to carry a DSLR, it's a more than adequate tool and has rewarded me with some lovely photos...