Camera advice?

[bleeding_sarcasm]

I really know very little about cameras, which is why when i bought my first one my motivating factors were different, and it doesnt exactly fill my needs. i currently have a cannon powershot a95, just a little point and shoot, what ive discovered tho is that the main thing i take pictures of are my animals, and geckos in particular. this is where it falls short for me, i cant focus close enough, it has a macro wont let me get close enough to get detail on small animals, and even on the fastest setting, the shutter speed is too slow, and it does terrible in low light [my pictures turn out really dark even directly under a compact flo light]

so im thinking i need something other then a point and shoot, but i really dont know what options are out there, and what kind of things i should be looking for. i want to stick with digital [3 megapixels +] id rather something with a manual focus? also, any tips whatsoever would be super helpful.

thanks alot.
-tamara

[John_White]

My advise would be to visit several reputable camera dealers in your area. Explain to them what you want to photograph, what you want to do with the photos you take and let them guide you. A great online source of digital camera information and advise can be found here: http://www.dpreview.com/

[Reptscue]

Just to show the macro setting of my new digi cam. It's a Sony Cybershot DSC-P100 (5.1 mega pixels) It is a nice little camera and has a zoom lense. It can also record half decent video clips.
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/P100/P1A.HTM

[buck2003]

Mines just 3.1 mega pixels, and I also struggle with shutter speed, macro is ok though esp on still objects but moving animals tend to of gone by the time it takes a picture! Still till my finances permit me to buy another it'll have to do!
Buck

[bleeding_sarcasm]

here are some of the ones ive done with my macro. it still doesnt let me get close enough to hatchling cresteds to show pattern

[bleeding_sarcasm]

i think ive found the best site. www.neoscales.com this guy is fantastic and knows his stuff.

[ksshane]

I just bought the Canon Rebel XT. You can read the reviews on www.dpreview.com (great source by the way).

This is not my picture, but it just shows what can be done with macro with this camera. It was taken by a member on a camera forum I hang out in

[tmfleo1]

The Sony cybershot is a great camera which there are several styles to choose from with different features the one I got is the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H1 5.1 mega pixels 12.0x zoom a lot of feature I'm still learning on it there is an opption with different lens and filters
check out the following links

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/home.htm

http://www.sonystyle.com

[bleeding_sarcasm]

the rebel is what i really really want to get, but its totally out of my price range.