@PPG;

Thanks for the info on Alienskin Blow-up.

Yes, I remember you from my fractal days ( very early in my gallery)...LOL!  I will have to have a peek at your gallery to see what I have missed.

Also, some good advice given to you from the folks here....there are many good cams out there.  Some further thoughts without getting into specific brands...as I think most of the more prominent manufacturers all have equal and very good cams ( some are Canon folks, some are Olympus folks, some are Nikon folks...LOL!);

1. I think your first thought would be to narrow down whether or not you want to go Point and shoot or DSLR.

P & S Pros; Ease of use, compact/lightweight, reasonably priced, ability to shoot video in some cases, generally good macro capability, very good depth of field, sealed fairly well so sensor dust is not generally a problem, most don't have 68 mystery buttons

P & S Cons; Most only produce JPEG images/most do NOT produce RAW images, small sensor size generally produces noisier images, generally very limited with respect to true "manual" shooting, most don't have a viewfinder...only the LCD screen to preview, most do not have the ability to change lenses or add filters.

DSLR Pros; larger sensor size generally reduces image noise, ability to shoot in different formats like RAW, ability to interchange lenses, generally they have full manual controls and much more flexibility to allow more image creativity, more sophisicated WRT focus point selection/metering mode selection/ISO selection/continuous shooting modes/flash capabilities etc

DSLR cons; Higher priced, heavy and bulky, no video capability, some have sensor dust issues, additional lenses are very expensive, much more limited depth of field, 68 (or more) mystery buttons!

I'm sure others can add to these pros and cons but once you've decided on your cam's format then you can go on to the next step and identify the best model and manufacturer to suit your needs.

In youth, we learn....with age, we understand.