If you more than a dinky point and shoot digital, you're going to need to spend more than what you've indicated to Pam above. DSLR bodies are $800+, and good point and shoot non-DSLR cameras range from $300 - $900 depending on what level of optical zoom and how many Mpixels you are looking for (and how fast the sensor is, 6 Mpixel of slow sensor is worthless, but a really fast 4 Mpixel sensor with decent glass can take a damn nice picture). A good 35mm point and shoot non-SLR body was a multiple hundred dollar investment When Film Ruled the World, and SLR bodies were only a little cheaper than roughly equivalent DSLR bodies are now.

Last time I was looking at prices, the equivalent of the camera I paid ~$500 for 1.5 yrs ago was in the low $300s (5 Mpixel), and that was June.