You said you did not want a camera that you had to change out the lenses. But if you ever get your hands on a DSL, you will never look back. I still have my Canon Rebel XT that I have had since 2006, only 8mp, but still takes pretty good shots. You can get a used one pretty cheap on eBay. The kit zoom lens that came on the camera is 18-55mm, a decent wide angle and takes good macro shots as well.
I also bought a 100mm macro lens, pricey and bulky, but will take the shots where you can see each hair on a honeybee's body and closeups of stamens. I have taken shots of ladybug larvae eating aphids, too cool!

I am looking for an upgrade to a full-frame Canon Mark IV, waiting to make sure they get the bugs working out first.

Good luck on the camera search!

Canon Rebel with 70-300mm Canon lens or a cheaper version of the same size lense from Sigma which describes it'self as a macro though it's not really but works well enough as one.
Dragon Fly on Lotus about 8 ft away
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Dragon Fly on Lotus about 4ft away

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There would have been less noise if I had changed the settings

Okay, two votes for a Rebel. But....what if I con't understand fStops and "noise" and shutter speeds and stuff like that? So far I've shied away from a cameras that seemed to require a masters degree to handle them. I don't do too well with stuff that requires very fine tuning either manual or mental. Do you know anyone who has gone from zero to a Rebel (or something like it) without losing their marbles?

Susan

My sister went from some sort of little compact straight into the Rebel without any problems, marbles intact.

The Rebel has a wonderful feature that figures all that for you. This little knob on the top has pictures of a flower for macro, a mountain for landscapes, a face for protraits, etc. Or you can read that manual that was originally written in a Chinese or Japanese, then translated into English. I hate to admit it, but I rarely venture into the alleged wonderland of f-stop/apeture/white balance manipulation. I did take a class back in the 80's that taught me how to use a 35mm camera. But I get pretty good shots just using the Rebel's automatic features.

The most I use out of the automatic realm is the focus. Particularly if you're using macro, you will need to decide what you want to focus on.

That's the beauty of the DSL, you can be lazy, or get creative and tweak the controls yourself. You get great pics either way.

labrea, MAGNIFICIENT dragonfly photos! Thank you! Kim

I just stopped in at the local camera store and looked at the Canon Rebel T3. I think I'm in love.

Susan