Macro capacity is very important. I almost never use a flash. I understand the concept of bringng the subject into sharp focus and letting the background blur out, but I have not tried to acheive that effect. My old camera had a zoom which allowed me to photograph birds and animals from a distance, but I would prefer to get close to the plants.
I have done a couple of workshops with a professional nature photographer. I learned a lot from those but I do not think it is something I am likely to apply to my work. My core concept is to make the subject assessible to the average person. To create photos that they could create on their own.
The biggest problem I had with my PowerShot SX100 IS was the fact that one button controlled so many things. I had great trouble trying to change the focus or the field length. I would be getting close but then would put a little too much pressure on the button and cause it to change to some totally different function.
