lol sorry goo search I couldn't resist LOL
Ok Point and shoot cameras will hardly ever work for yah .. though I know a few Photogs that can work magic with those little buggers ... but if you want to add lighting then a D-slr is the only way to go .. today D-slr's are pretty inexpensive, you can get a D100 (nikon) and D70 for under 1000 $ with a decent lens ... Same goes if you want to go the Canon way, A 300D (rebel) or 10D off ebay or craigs list will also run yah under 1000$ .. I found a Fuji S2 (10 mp) for 300$ CND on saturday ... Thinking of picking it up to replace my back up S1.
On too lighting .. if your mostly gonna shoot in hotels and small bedrooms . you won't need more then say 100 - 300 watts total to get a nice pic out.
so A small 3 strobe 100 -150 wps kit will do the job. though the refresh rate will be way slower then a 250 W strobe, you'll still get the final result you wanted. It'll just take a little more time to refresh the strobe, which is fine, because you are an amature photog and can use that time to re frame your pic ... Good luck to you ...
a small kit like this one will do the trick for tight spaces (such as Hotels, bedrooms, kitchen ..etc) and will run approx 300 - 500$ for the whole kit. Construction is cheap, usually plasitic, so don't leave the lights on too long and be gentile with the gear ..
