Hey All - I'm hunting for a new digital camera and would greatly appreciate some advise. My current camera (Nikon Coolpix P50) will only allow me to get about 1 foot from my models. Thus its impossible to get good close up detail shots. On the flip side I'm not looking to spend tons of dough for a speciality camera just to take some photos of my models. Does anyone know if there is a good digital camera that I can use for everyday life that has a good macro feature and is less than $300? Thanks!!!!

They are a compact point-and-shoot, but a possibility would be the Panasonic ZS1 or ZS3. Both have received excellent reviews and ratings; there is a detailed review on dpreview.com.

The cameras will meet your $300 price point-- about $240 on Amazon. Both cameras have 25mm-300mm macro-to-zoom range (topping out ~12x); the macro function alone is a big bonus for a compact point-and-shoot. Images are 10.1 Mp.

Its greatly appreciated!

You can get the Canon Powershot A590 IS for less than half. The macro feature lets you get as close as 2 inches from the subject.

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=183&modelid=16336

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