You need a camera that will let you do closeups which are done with the macro setting. My last camera was an older Fuji FinePix and I just replaced it with another Fuji FinePix s1500. I don't know if it's similar with all macro settings on cameras, but on these Fujis, when I use the macro setting, a little flower icon shows to indicate I'm using the macro ;-) There are a zillion places to buy cameras, and all with a zillion settings, but you need first to look into what you want vs what you don't need and that will help you narrow down the selections. I bought my old camera "used" from a camera store, it was a trade-in, had been cleaned up and tuned, so to speak, and I was happy with it. I had it for nearly a decade, but good thing only last so long. I needed a newer camera and knowing what I wanted I did some comparison shopping online and at a few stores. I happened to have been at BJs to pick up some items and wandered into their electronics aisle, found the cameras and read the comparison sheets and bought this new Fuji right then and there. I did have to also buy a separate storage disc which didn't come with the camera, but I'd rather shoot photos and save them on disc and download the disc into the computer rather than downloading out of the smaller built-in storage that is in the camera itself. You need the storage disc because the camera can't hold squat on its own ;-(

Kathy the macro is a Nikon (Nikkor) AF-S 85mm f/3.5G ED VR. I also have a Nikon 55-200 mm zoom but the macro takes better and more close up pics. This macro lens is about the strongest this camera can handle. Maybe after a year or so, if I progress I'll invest in a D700 that can handle a super macro but I'm not ready to spend $2500 for a camera body and another $800+ for a lens. Going from a digital point & shoot to the 5000 was a big enough step for me right now. lol Once I become more familiar, if I do, I'm going to look in the pawn shops for equipment. As long as I know what to look for, which I don't at this time, it will save me a lot of $$. You can get really nice camera equipment for a fraction of the retail cost at a pawn shop.

I also just got a Casio EXILIM (14MP, which is kind of silly). I'm really happy with it, for what it is. It was $79.00 on WOOT, and takes nice pix and video. If you're not a purist, it has some built in image processing that can handle much more challenging lighting really well. But you have to realize what you're getting: these will have smaller apertures, noisier sensors, smaller zooms, won't deal well with low light, and have small flashes located right near the lens. But under the right conditions, they can do quite well. (One issue with the Casio: It takes a special Casio battery, rather than the AA or AAA batteries that I have all over the place. But their battery lasts a couple of days. ) By way of background: I'm a major (D)SLR guy, with a big canon rig and lots of Canon lenses. Our living room is decorated with lots of my landscape and wildlife (full disclosure: some from the zoo, of course) and other shots. I love photography. I got the Casio because I wanted something that I can always stick in my pocket. The best camera is the one that you have with you when you need to get the shot :) Remember: Subject, lighting, and technique beat out equipment every time. We also have a Canon S3-IS, which is a higher-quality point-and-shoot. Under the right conditions, it can take pix that are really close to anything I can shoot with the DSLR. It's newer siblings are great cameras too (like the SX30 IS). It's kinda big, though, for a point-and-shoot. I think of cameras in this class as "crossovers" -- big enough lenses and sensors for very good pictures, but small enough to not require a big dedicated bag. If you want the best P&S picture quality, lots of zoom range, and don't mind paying a bit more in $ and size, the Lumix or Canon "crossovers" always seem to be the best bets to me. If you want a simple hand-held P&S, there are lots of options, including Canon, Nikon, Panasonic, and Casio... and lots of sites with high-quality reviews: www.steves-digicams.com, www.dpreview.com/ are good.

Circuit City currently has a nice Samsung 7.2mp camera on sale for $75 with a free printer. Most people do not need all the bells and whistles, as others have pointed out, but the Samsung has a nice collection of features. You actually don't need super-high megapixels if you're not going to make big enlargements, do heavy cropping (like taking only 10% of a picture and blowing it up), or take really, really tight closeups, and very high resolution does chew up the camera's memory and hard-drive space... higher megapixels does not necessarily equate to a better camera. I have a Kodak Easyshare camera and like it very much - it has stood up to quite a bit of abuse like getting dropped, left in the freezing or roasting car, etc. Five years old and operates just as well as the day it was purchased. (It skews a tad to the pink on occasion but if I weren't so dang lazy I could correct that easily, and it has been fixed in later models.) It is a 3.1MP camera and still takes perfectly presentable pictures for my needs - photo sharing here, family/pets snapshots, that sort of thing. Circuit City has the current 7MP model for $100 with a free printer; Best Buy has it for $100 with no printer. Some people really like having the photo printer, we never even used up the supplied package of paper that came with ours and ended up giving it away. If I need hardcopy prints I go to somewhere like CVS or Walgreens for them, since they frequently have coupons for free prints, and get good 4x6 and even 5x7s out of my sorry ole 3.1 even with moderate cropping. ;-) A pawnshop is another place to get a cheap, used digital camera, and you'll be able to get your hands on it before you purchase to make sure it works.