I have a Nikon Coolpix 4300 ... you could get one for $300 to $350 (plus tax, shipping ...). For that camera, you should also get a spare rechargable battery $40 in addition to a spare non-rechargable $12; 1 or 2 compact flash cards -- Lexar 256MBy 12x $54 or Lexar 256MBy 40x $70; LowePro 10AW bag; I am able to carry a tabletop tripod $20 in along with everything else. The 4300 will do closeups, near, far etc. It has 3X optical zoom. It is a 4 mega pixel camera and can even generate a 10MBy TIFF file (if you want). The downside is that manual focus is clumsy, it has limited depth of field -- and not easy to control; also not as easy to set exposure as on an SLR. See what others suggest before making your decision.