What's the best digital camera for 500-700 dollars?

ATTN ALL PICTURE TAKERS....
IM LOOKING FOR THE BEST CAMERA MONEY CAN BUY. ONE THAT WILL TAKE GREAT PICS UP CLOSE AND AFAR...IM A SERIOUS PHOTOGRAPER, AND WANT SOMETHING AS SERIOUS AS I AM. HELP ME SHOP

Go by where the illegals hang out to get picked up for work. Pick up the three biggest and ugliest for $20 each. Go to the newspaper office and follow the guy that comes out with a camera bag....

with that price range, an entry level dslr is the way to go. Any camera from one of the major brands will perform well and is capable of taking professional quality pictures. Take a look at the Canon Rebel line (XTi), Nikon D series (D60), Olympus E series (E420, E510) for starters.

As far as taking "great pics up close and afar," it will depend on the lenses you have/get, not the camera body. If you get a camera with a kit lens, it will probably be fine for everyday shooting at most distances. From there, depending on what camera you get, you will have to look into what telephoto (far) or macro (close) lenses are offered, and then pick from there.

If you're looking for a digital SLR, I would look at the Nikon D series, personally I shoot with a D200-a little out of your price range, but a good camera within that price range may be the D40 or the D40x. The difference is in the megapixels.

If you're looking for a good digital point and shoot and have that type of money to spend, I would suggest looking at the Leica D-Lux, about $599 on Amazon.com. Leica is known for their lenses. If you want to spend a little less, and still have a camera comparable to the Leica, Panasonic created virtually the same camera, at a lower price, the Lumix DSC-LX2, which I'm actually about to purchase.

Check the DSLR lines from Sony and Pentax. Both have excellent cameras in your price range. Both have their version of Image Stabilization (IS) in the camera body - something the Nikon D40x and Canon XTi don't have. Also, with the Canon and Nikon you have to pay for AF with the lens.

The Sony A200 and A300 can use every Minolta Maxxum AF lens made since 1985. You can find a good selection of used lenses on eBay or keh,com or bhphotovideo.com or adorama.com. Of course, they will all have full functionality with the Sony and have the benefit of IS. Sony is releasing a line of Carl Zeiss lenses which are premium lenses.

Pentax K10D and K20D can use every Pentax K-mount AF lens made plus all the older K-mount manual focus lenses. There are some limitations when using the older manual focus lenses.

Olympus, Sigma and Fuji also offer very nice DSLRs.

I suggest you visit digitalcameraguide.com and read the reviews of DSLRs in your price range.

By the way, cameras do not take great pictures - experienced, skilled photographers do.

Last year I bought a Nikon D40x, and it hasn't failed me yet. It's not the most professional thing you can have, but the one of the best in the price range. I paid about $750 for it including the body and standard 18-55mm Nikkor lens. Hope this helps.

Canon Rebel Xti or whatever the latest is now.

$500 will buy you a cheap DSLR. $700 will buy you a pretty good lens.

im in love with photography aswell ...so i got a nikon coolpix but i dont know if it is the best but its really good for me plus it is thin and light weight