Economical Cameras?

[T-Rex]

Some of these pics in this forum are amazing. Are there any cameras out there that can take these incredible close ups and be economical - like in the 200-350 dollar range?

I'm sure there are some posts on this...just haven't been able to find them.

[darb85]

sony A series can be a pretty good deal!

[Reef Bass]

"incredible close ups" and "economical" are usually mutually exclusive. "I can see it" and "economical" usually match up better. If one could get severely awesome macro shots with low end equipment, there wouldn't be much of a market for high end gear.

As gross generalizations, inexpensive point and shoots can't focus that close nor can they get the white balance right and there aren't any dslr macro lenses available for that price, let alone the back to mount them on.

If you could up your budget, a higher end p&s with a macro mode that can shoot in RAW (like the Canon G12) or a used dslr and some lens tubes / extensions would probably come closest to what you are asking.