Best Camera for Family Shots

[Nu2photography]

Budget

* What budget have you allocated for buying this camera? Please be as specific as possible.
$800-1000

Size

* What size camera are you looking for? Or does size not matter at all to you?
Prefer smaller, lightweight cameras
Features

How many megapixels will suffice for you? 6

* What optical zoom will you need? (None, Standard = 3x-4x, Ultrazoom = 10x-12x, Other - Specify) ultrazoom or any for DSLR

* How important is “image quality” to you? (Rate using a scale of 1-10) 8

Do you care for manual controls? Maybe some day ... don't know how to use them yet

General Usage

* What will you generally use the camera for? taking pics of my kids in various settings (sports, school productions, typical family shots)

* Will you be making big prints of your photos or not? No

Will you be shooting a lot of indoor photos or low light photos? Yes

Will you be shooting sports and/or action photos? Yes

Miscellaneous

Are there particular brands you like or hate? No

Are there particular models you already have in mind? I have been looking at the Nikon D40, Olympus E-510, and Pentax K100d

(If applicable) Do you need any of the following special features? (Wide Angle, Image Stabilization, Weatherproof, Hotshoe, Rotating LCD)
I am leaning towards a DSLR with in-camera stabilization

[Nu2photography]

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. :)

[Spookonthe8ball]

Nu2photography --- Sorry for the wait. I guess folks are busy starting out this new year. I have a question for you. Would you like to consider a high end prosumer camera with video capability? Just something to consider. Any of your selections above in a dslr would serve you guys fine. I'm just trying to make the point that no current dslr have movie capibilities, but high end prosumers do. The video isn't up to camcorder standards, but many come very close. The pricing point you posted will get picture quality of 8 in most modern cameras.
Spook

[Nu2photography]

Nu2photography --- Sorry for the wait. I guess folks are busy starting out this new year. I have a question for you. Would you like to consider a high end prosumer camera with video capability? Just something to consider. Any of your selections above in a dslr would serve you guys fine. I'm just trying to make the point that no current dslr have movie capibilities, but high end prosumers do. The video isn't up to camcorder standards, but many come very close. The pricing point you posted will get picture quality of 8 in most modern cameras.
Spook

I am willing to consider any camera that will take good family photos.

Thanks!

[David Metsky]

I am willing to consider any camera that will take good family photos.
Any camera in that price range will take good family photos.