Unfortunately there is no such thing as a camera that takes perfect pictures all the time. This would eliminate the need for proffessional photographers...It is the photographer that takes the picture, it is the camera that is the little box that records the light based on what the photographer is doing, you can get great shots with a cell phone if you know how to use it. As a photographer myself, I use top of the line equipment, but the more professional your gear is the more you need to know about the settings, the pro cameras do not come with all the presets, that consumer cameras come with such as a "sports" setting a "night" setting a "landscape" a setting so unless you are interested in taking a few classes on digital photography your best bet would be to stick with a top of the line consumer camera not a top of the line professional camera, you probably don't want an slr camera where you have to change the lenses between different shots. or have to manual set your white balance and use complicated software to upload images in the specialized raw file formats these cameras use. The new nikon consumer cameras have really smart sensors that do a great job of guessing what subject you are shooting and making all the propper adjustments needed. I prefer nikon as the lenses are very good, you can find some great tutorials for the specific camera you chose on youtube. It is a balancing act of how much you want to learn about photography which will ultimately yield you better photos and how much you want to be automated. Good luck
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That's like saying "how long is a piece of string" - there are too many variables, and it comes down to price, personal preferences and the ability of the photographer.

I use an older Fuji S1 Pro which is great for what I do, but will upgrade to the S5 as soon as I can afford it.

Other front runners are the 5D MKII, the Nikon D3X and the Nikon D3.

As tboz said, for the average user an SLR is probably wasted, unless you are VERY talented and don't mind changing lenses between shots, etc.

My everyday camera is, believe it or not, an iPhone, as I am ALWAYS carrying it with me, although my laptop backpack has a Nikon Coolpix 110 permanently housed therein. I only really use the SLR for portrait work or when I'm photographong a school event.

The little Nikon 110 takes amazing photos for a small camera, and is generally good enough for family snaps and blog posts.

Ultimately it comes down to what you feel comfortable with and what you can afford.
Source(s):
Amateur photographer for 20 years

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My personal choice is the Nikon D3. Nikon has achieved peak performance out of that 12 MP sensor. Amazingly, its image quality matches up quite well with the 21 MP Canon 1Ds Mark III, thus proving that megapixels aren't everything. The runaway sales of the D3, even to diehard Canon users, speaks well of its capabilities. If you haven't used one you don't know what you are missing.

I have been in photography for over 50 years and still get a thrill out of it. :)
Source(s):
DPReview
Thom Hogan
Bjorn Rorslett
Andy Rouse
and many others

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you'll have to decide if you want to go nikon or canon. (dslr)

i chose the canon line.
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First of all, there is no such thing as the best digital camera. They have different strengths and weaknesses.

If you want a perfect picture every time, it is not going to happen. It can't happen. Even the best photographers take more bad photos than good. The photographer is the key component in creating a good photograph - lighting matters more than lens quality, composition matters more than sensor quality - I shot this photo on one of the worst lenses money can buy today, on the original Digital Rebel and kit lens:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/25/54517169_e433bed516.jpg

robbrown has covered the most capable digital SLRs, though he left out the fastest camera, the 1D Mark III, it's not much faster than the other pro offerings - it can shoot 10 frames per second. The bottom line with SLRs, however, is that the lens is far more important than the camera when it comes to how the photo comes out (and, then, the photographer is far more important than the lens!) - a huge variety of lenses is there because different people have different needs:

http://www.clownloach.net/Hardware/Hardware_pics/canon_lenses.jpg
http://www.letsgodigital.org/html/review/nikon/d2xs/nikon_d2xs_lens.jpg

Furthermore, lighting equipment is nearly mandatory for the best people photographs:
http://www.alienbees.com/images/packages/busy.jpg

Because there are so many different things photographers shoot, "best" depends on the situation - for one person, a capable P&S is the best digital camera, for someone else, a compact SLR with some small, fast prime lenses, and for another, a monstrous pro SLR with a huge telephoto lens, massive tripod, gimbal head, and a blind to hide in so the birds don't see them.

The best currently available point and shoot cameras are probably the Panasonic LX-3, if you want a very wide angle and something that is nominally pocketable, the Canon G10, for a fully capable P&S that is fully compatible with a powerful flash system, and the Canon SX1IS/ SX10IS, which are probably the best all around superzoom type cameras that also work with a good flash system.

DPReview just did a big series of comparisons between P&S cameras:

Super Zooms:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/Q109superzoomgroup/

Enthusiast Compacts:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/Q408enthusiastgroup/

Premium Compacts:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/Q408premiumgroup/

Ultra Compact:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/Q408slimgroup/

In these reviews, you'll usually find a couple of brands consistently amongst the best: the winner of most of the comparisons is a Canon or Panasonic. Nikon can be competitive, but is much better with SLRs than P&S cameras.

Here's an example photo that essentially every camera in existence will mess up without user intervention:
http://jforbes.smugmug.com/photos/456985228_MQPg6-M.jpg

The reason why pretty much every camera will mess it up is because snow is white. The way the meters work on a camera is that, essentially, they TRY to make photos gray. So I needed to adjust the exposure on my dSLR (which isn't top of the line, but works much the same) up to compensate for the way the light meters work. Had I shot it with a different camera, the result would have been roughly the same.

If you have specific needs, feel free to respond to my question and I can direct you to something that is appropriate for your needs, but be aware that nothing is a perfect solution except for a pro SLR, a small SLR, a point and shoot camera, lenses for all situations, and some lighting equipment, supports for the lighting equipment, a nice heavy tripod to use with big lenses, and a compact tripod to use for travel. That'd cover all your needs, but still wouldn't take the perfect photo every time.

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