Easy to use and great quality. I love mine.
Sony NEX.
http://www.target.com/p/sony-nex5nk-...ot=medium_1_40

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1044/...860716b309.jpg

It's $700 and don't you still have to buy the lens. It needs to be less than $400.

I may go with this.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...al_Camera.html

It comes with the 18-55mm lens.
Went to the Sony site to double check and it's on sale there. $499!
It's a hell of a camera for that price.

http://store.sony.com/p/Sony-NEX-5-1.../en/p/NEX5NK/B

The great thing is that you can always keep adding to it. Even with an adapter ring you can put manual lenses on it. So many cool options with this camera. Simple point and click to fully manual.

Nikon d5100 $576 is a steal for a VERY nice camera. The newer version of this camera is expected to debut at around the $1300 mark.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...pf_rd_i=507846

I'll be getting one but from NFM so I can use the 24 months no interest financing. It also comes with a 55-300 mm lens but the kit runs you $828. The newer updated of this camera was introduced last week so this version's price is dropping. Do the research. You will see this is a fantastic camera.

Thanks for everyones help. I need to find a place like Best Buy where I can check them out.

Do like everyone else and research at brick and mortor. Order cheaper online.

Point and shoots probably all have the same basic white balance settings. I find auto white balance to be inaccurate, and any will give you a problem in combination lighting. The somewhat higher end compacts and some of those super zooms have manual settings, so you can probably dial in whatever shutter speed or white balance for whatever kind of shot you're trying to get.

Pretty much every camera except for high end dslrs use SD cards. On camera flash generally sucks across the board, IMHO. I suppose try to find one that your finger doesn't block when you're trying to use it. If you are somewhat steady handed and/or pick a camera with good image stabilizer, slow shutter is a good way to utilize the flash, provided the subject is as still as you want it (or not, for cool light trail effect.)

Not sure if you bought one yet but the one I mentioned earlier just dropped in price again. So now for $798, $50 plus tax more than your max budget, you get a top ranked camera PLUS a 55-300 mm lens.

http://www.nfm.com/DetailsPage.aspx?productid=34347732

I just ordered mine and am going to pick up. Can't wait!

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-PowerSho...keywords=sx260

And grab a class 10 memory card.

I bought this camera earlier this year and love it. Only downside is that the aperture range isn't the best in its class, probably the worst, and you have to stitch photos in the software that comes with it to make panorama shots, unlike the sony where you can just pan the camera and it does it itself. But the most important part of a camera is the picture and the sx260 gets the top marks vs comparable sony, panasonic, and nikon camera's consistently.