Digital Camera...Which brand is better Sony, Olympus, Nikon, or Cannon?

Need to capture pix of my son growing up...

This is a tough question to answer without more information.

I'll guess that you are new to photography and want something that is convenient, easy to use, easy to get pictures out of and not too expensive.

Consider the brand, spanking new Canon Powershot A550. I saw one in WalMart, so they are actually on the market now. It looks pretty nice and it has at least one glowing review:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2007_revi...

Consider the Canon Powershot SD600. It's tiny, so you can keep it almost anywhere. It costs just over $200. Set it on "auto" and forget about it.
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_revi...

Or...

Go to any of these pages and start to gather the opinion of the professional reviewers.

http://www.steves-digicams.com/best_came...
http://www.dcresource.com/buyersguide/ (Note: This page was done before the A550 came out.)

Koko - if you see this - did you realize that the SD900 is selling for $350 now? That's why I chose that over the SD700. Report It

I have found that Canon is the best.

I would say Cannon because they make the best photography equipment and printers. Cannons have the best optical zoom, the more optical zoom, the less grainy the photo.

I'd prefer the Cannon Rebel XTi in the link below, I have this camera, it is worth every penny.....

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controll...

At the consumer level, Canon wins by a long shot. Good optics and good sensors. If you want an SLR, Canon and Nikon make excellent cameras. Here are a few choices:

Slim and Small- No limit- Canon SD900
Slim and Small- $300-400 limit Canon SD800 IS (Has Imagine Stablization)
Slim and Small- $200-$300 limit- SD600 6MP

Ultrazoom- Canon S3IS (Has Imagine Stablization) 12X optical 6MP

Budget Camera- No limit- Canon A640 10MP 4X Optical Zoom
Budget Camera- Less than $300- Canon A630 8MP 4X Optical Zoom

Enutheist Camera- No Limit- ($500+) Canon G7 10MP 6X Optical Zoom

SLR- No Limit- Canon Mk-II $5000 w/o lens
SLR- $3000 - Canon 5D Full Sensor
SLR- Budget - Canon 30D
SLR- Below $1000 w/ lens kit - Canon Rebel XTi

The answers ahead of mine are excellent but don't discount a Sony or Nikon if it catches your fancy. There really is no BETTER brand unless you go into digital single lens reflex cameras.

here's a link on ebay where you can read reviews of them by ebay members

whatever camera is not cheap. it really depends on what company better applies to your needs. sony is all around as is canon only canon is not as expensive as sony. olympus really markets water proof/resistant cameras, nikon favors the low light, panasonic likes to zoom... etc etc etc

im fond of kodak and canon