I'm just now reading all this about Digital Cameras. I have one of the best ones for macro plant photos, the Minolta DiMage 7, it has a manual 7x zoom, auto or manual focus, in fact everything is auto or manual, and the photos are free so you can try all different settings and pick what you like. It's 5.2 megpic so you can edit out just the part of a photo you want and still have a large photo to post or print. I've taken over 7,000 photos since February, I've really learned allot about taking photos now that it doesn't cost anything to make "bad photos" , I've taken 10 to 20 photos of the same flower to get it "just right" . WOW what a camera! They have 2 new ones out already that are better than mine, the DiMage 7i and 7Hi. Remember you get what you pay for.... Jim Reese