Go to a camera store, not a Walmart or a Target store with your list of
requirements and talk to the sales clerk, they will find you a camera that
will do what you want, probably with at least a couple of compromises as no
consumer level camera will do everything that everyone wants.

One other tip, in your description you mentioned setting the minimum
aperture to f2.8, you've got that backwards, the smaller the aperture
number, the larger the aperture, less depth of field, harder to get
everything in the field in focus. What you need to do to do macro or other
close up photography well is to stop the lens down as far as possible, to
the extent where you add additional light in order to maintain a workable
shutter speed. You should also be using a tripod as any camera shake will
only be increased as you get closer to your subject and if you're using a
small shooting aperture with it's requisite slower shutter speed.

Sorry I can't give you a specific recomendation as I haven't kept up with
the specs. of consumer digital cameras. I will say that Canon produces a
good line of consumer digital cameras as does Olympus. I would think that
you should be able to find something made by one of those companies that
will satisfy your needs. I would seriously look at getting some additional
lighting. You're also going to have to increase your budget if you truly
want good quality equipment. Forget about megapixels and ask about lens
resolution, it's far more important than how big a file the camera creates.

John Emmons

"Grant Erwin" wrote in message
...
I often want to shoot a picture of some detail just to post it as an
adjunct to
a discussion, as "a picture is worth a thousand words". I have terrible
trouble
shooting closeups with digital cameras. I have finally found the method
that
yields the best results:

use minimum aperture for max depth of field (f2.8)
no flash
macro mode
manually adjust exposure
autofocus takes a long time, wait until macro focus lights
shoot multiple images - bracket exposures
use LCD display to adjust exposure, focus

but it's still pretty miserable. I want to know if there exist any digital
cameras in the under $200 price range which can actually shoot closeups. I
don't
care about much else, as the cameras we have now can handle other jobs.

I'm looking for precise model suggestions from actual owners, NOT general
suggestions like "nikon rocks" or "have you tried sony" or "google on
reviews".
There are about a trillion review sites but it's a whole boatload of work
to
sort through them all and I'm hoping one of you has a camera, knows what
I'm
talking about, likes their camera, knows it's still currently available,
and is
willing to post the exact model number.

Thanks!

GWE