I started photography second time in 2000, when I got Nikon Coolpix 995 in my hands. Nice small 3 Mp digital camera (see stock image on the right).You can find good Phil Ashley's review here:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikoncp995/

I liked swivel design and how solid it is build; I also liked the easyness of taking pictures -- no picture developing, it is ready right away (the last is true for all digital cameras). Most of the pictures on my personal site:

http://amirko.net

had been taken with this camera in 2000-2002. See some examples below on this page.
The site even says "Coolpix-addicted" on the front page:) I have all those images. Well, 3MP is 3MP, I wish all of them be good 35mm negatives, but the truth is -- without this small thing I would not be in the photo-world now.

I also left the camera in Russia, it was not actually mine, I bought it for my work (I was with Russian Academy of Sciences at the time, working on old book imaging project).
So buy-buy Nikon, no more Coolpixes.