I use a Cannon Dgital Rebel XT SLR with a 18-55mm lense for regular shots, a 75-300mm lense for trying to get shots of those snakes or other critters from a distance, and I just got a 50mm compact macro lense that I'll be trying out this year. The SLR is an 8 megapixel, so the detail is very good and I find that even if the picture isn't a real close up shot, the detail is good enough that I can just zoom in using editting software. As far as proving James wrong with pics.....well check out my gallery of pics and you be the judge.
Roy