Grant,

I am going to break your rule by suggesting a camera that is no longer
made but can be had within your price range on Ebay. The camera is the
Olympus C-2500L. It is a 2.5 megapixel camera, and in super macro mode
will focus down to 0.8 in. Of course at extremely short distances the
lens shades the flash so external lighting is required. It is a SLR so
you look through the lens which I believe is better for close-ups. I
own the camera and this is my 2 cents.