Things that I look for are:
Shutter Lag speed - On compacts you can get some with as little as 0.1 second, which is pretty damn good really.
Megapixel - Compacts start to suffer at high megapixel due to the tiny ccd, however, general rule is bigger is better.
Optical Zoom - Best I've seen on a compact is x5, past there you start getting into Bridge cameras or SLRs.
Sounds to me like if you want something that's nearly an SLR go for a bridge camera, there are plenty about at very reasonable prices, very very fast shutter speeds and plenty of controls... nearly an SLR but not quite, lots cheaper and only one lens.
Shutter Lag speed - On compacts you can get some with as little as 0.1 second, which is pretty damn good really.
Megapixel - Compacts start to suffer at high megapixel due to the tiny ccd, however, general rule is bigger is better.
Optical Zoom - Best I've seen on a compact is x5, past there you start getting into Bridge cameras or SLRs.
Sounds to me like if you want something that's nearly an SLR go for a bridge camera, there are plenty about at very reasonable prices, very very fast shutter speeds and plenty of controls... nearly an SLR but not quite, lots cheaper and only one lens.