For what it's worth, my several-years-old not-very-expensive-as-these-things-go digital camera allows for some adjustments -- F stop, color of light, and a few other things I don't understand 'cause I'm mostly a point-and-shoot kind of person (being uneducated in the ways of real photography). Ask me at Pennsic if you wnat to play with it. I don't know what it cost because it was a gift, but I don't think it was very high-end. (It does not, for example, take external lenses and stuff like that, and it's a no-name brand. My rough guess would be about $200, about 4 years ago (or maybe 3?).)
By the way, I'm not trying to encourage you to spend your limited resources on a digital camera -- just pointing out that something you would consider servicable might be cheaper than you think should you decide to go looking in the future.
*nod* You came across as saying something more helpful than "here's how you should spend your money" (which I'm rather sensitive to). And yes, I'm interested in checking out your camera at Pennsic.
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