Rich wrote:

Plastic-c-c-c-c-c-c. The days of the fine old METAL P&S cameras are
gone, quality having given way to megazooms, crappy lenses, TINY,
HORRIBLY noisy sensors and rotten plastic bodies. They make me sick.

There are differences in the quality of the plastics and the design. If
the design takes into account the weaknesses of plastic in certain
components then a plastic or polycarbonate body can be fine.

The worst place for plastic is in areas of constant stress such as in
battery compartment covers on cameras with AA batteries that put
constant pressure against the cover (which is part of the circuit. It's
one reason to avoid cameras with AA batteries if possible, though I
still have bought Canon cameras with AA batteries and have not had problems.

Ironically, it's often the ultra-compact point and shoot cameras that
are still made of metal because using metal helps make the camera smaller.

I still use my very plastic Canon G2. The early G2 production did have a
plastic problem but Canon repaired these at no charge.