There are lots of really good point and shoot cameras out there now for very reasonable prices. When you get above maybe 10 mp, you can enlarge the shots quite a bit and still get a clear image. Many come with zooms exceeding 20X. 20's probably the highest you can go without a tripod. Mine will go to 30x but I can't hold it steady by hand that high.
Look at the optical zoom. Digital zoom is just a gimmick to sort of enlarge shots. It's not a real zoom at all. You can do the same with about any photo software.
