At 10k, you will only get a decent point and shoot camera. Most of these cams do not offer any manual mode to experiment with. The Sonys in this price range are good. You can get the Sony W3xx series cams at this price point with bill and warranty.
Shell out may be a few hundreds more, and you will get a Canon SX120IS with b&w, a 10x zoom cam which also offers some manual control. IMO, this makes better sense if you are really interested in playing with your cam.