Photography camera what to get?

I will soon be starting sixth form and looking at getting a camera for photography but i'm not sure what one would be the best

I would want one that has

1) at least 14 megapixels or above
2) no more than 300 pounds price range
3) able to have a good macro ability
4) good portability (not to heavy and bulky)

I would also like to stick to a nikon or a cannon camera thank in advance for your help i'm really confused on all these different cameras avaliable and i don't know what one would be right for me

I'd borrow a photography guide book from the local library and have a read at it… You need to work out whether a 'bridge camera' is all that you really need or if you would be better spending your money on a DSLR… I would send you in the direction of the Nikon D5100 it's cheap, compact, fun to use and the quality is great… You would need to think about lenses though as Close up (macro) photography is more to do with the lens than the camera… All this is explained in guide books.

Canon, Nikon, Pentax and Sony all make great cameras… There isn't a lot of difference in quality between them… It's more the specification… Features and functions that set them apart… Second hand equipment might be worth looking at if your budget is too tight.

Being in the US, I'm not familiar with the term sixth form. If this will be a photography class, then you need to get what the instructor recommends. Go here for plenty of information: http://dpreview.com/...review.com.

Let me relieve you of one misconception that you have. The number of megapixels is irrelevant. It's a marketing ploy to draw in naive users. You can't buy a decent camera today that does not have enough pixels for anything but putting up a print as a mural in Grand Central Station. As a matter of fact, for your budget, any camera that is 14 megapixels or more will produce terrible results in low light. I always recommend for compact cameras with their tiny sensors to get the fewest number of megapixels. Yes, the fewest. You can't get less than 10mp and that's about right.

Shop around and you can pick up a D3200 for about that price at the moment, but you'll still need lenses as it's a proper dslr not an all in one point and click jobby.

Check with your tutor for next year as to the specification of the camera you'll need - only they can tell you for sure.

If all it requires is manual control of exposure, then a high end 'bridge' camera would do.
If it requires manual control PLUS interchangeable lenses, then you'd likely need a DSLR.

Don't get hung up on megapixels - they are not as important for image quality as is sensor size (& lens quality).

'Macro' is a function on most point & shoot cameras (including bridge cameras) but with DSLR's you would need a specialist macro lens to shoot macro.

In your budget you are not gonig to be able to afford a new DSLR and macro lens, but you could get a used DSLR easily. Again, don't dismiss lower MP of older DSLR's - a 6MP Nikon D100 for example will blow a point & shoot/bridge camera out of the water in terms of quality & versatility.