Thanks for all the responses!!! No one really answered my question but from what was said and going to look up all the cameras mentioned, I'm supposing I'll need to spend $500....a little more than I wanted to spend to practice with....Thanks again! I'm looking at a HP Photosmart 735 to play with for under $200 Optical Zoom: 3x Digital Zoom: 5x LCD Display: 1.5-inch color Optical Viewfinder Max. Resolution: 2080 x 1542 Built-in Flash Manual White Balance Shutter speed range: 2 seconds to 1/1500 of a second White balance: auto (default), sun, shade, tungsten; fluorescent Shooting mode: single shot, burst, self timer (10-second wait time), macro, video Focus: normal, macro