What's the best camera for me?

I'm passionate about emotive and artistic photography, and most of my photos are of various journeys and adventures I take with my friends (mountain climbing, hiking, roadtrips etc), so I'm looking for a camera that's small and portable but will take clear, high res shots.

Given the usual conditions I suffer from camera-shake and poor light because the flash is very harsh

Modes aren't important, I do most of that on photoshop.

Any help will be greatly appreciated

"Small and portable" rule out some of the recommendations above. Check out the Canon SD series with image stabilization if shakiness is giving to a problem.

I just handled an SD850-IS and was really blown away by the quality, even compared to my SD900. The "IS" makes a big difference. Canon also has a 12 MP SD950-IS that has been rated EXTREMELY well by users for image quality.

Check these out: http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstei...

You can read reviews anywhere on the SD850-IS and they all love the camera.

Nikon D3, Nikon F4 or EOS-1 MARK III ds.

With your interests make sure you have a camera that is sealed.

Canon 1ds mark 3, have a couple and the resolution is great. Next time include your budget.

You're going to have a hard time finding an SLR that is portable enough for you to bring along on some of your activities. Since creative modes are not all that important, I would suggest a Canon Powershot. You can get a hi-res one that fits in a pocket.

If you can spare the room though, the aforementioned Canon DSLRs are great.

A kodak Easyshare C743 Zoom. It will literally fit in your pocket, and it takes great pictures. I should know, because I have one.

I sold your uncle an 18-200mm VR (I had an extra one) to go with his D200 last year. Up until then he was a film only kind of guy.

I think he bought a 12-24mm for his trip to the Grand Canyon.

Olympus E-3, go for it.