Low price Manual Focus Digital/macro option

Hello all.

Working from with a college to find a way to take digital photos of DNA (UV

light) gels as cheaply as possible. The reason for digital is so the photos

can be directly imported into lab notebooks. As these imges won't be blown up

much the resolution isn't critical, I'm pretty sure we could do with something

that has less than 3 Megs. Manual focus is critical because the autofocus

point and shoots we've tried so far actually focus on the UV bulbs in the

lightbox rather than the glowing DNA bands.

I used my personal Pentax K10 with 100mm f2.8 FA macro lenses which worked

well, but even the low price option, a Pentax K110/DS or Samsung + macro lens

(~$160) we are probably talking about a total $550-600 purchase, which is

rather steep for the Department. Are there any digital cameras (it doesn't

need to be an dSLR) that can be focused manually and get us in the sub $250

range?

I have a Canon A540 that has manual focus that actually works. When you put it in manual focus mode, it gives you a big box blown up in the middle of the LCD. You can then use the selector buttons on the back to rack the lens in and out from the closest focus to infinity.

One of the reasons I bought the camera was to use to take photos for Ebay auctions. If I'm taking a picture of a lens, for example, up close, the camera will often want to focus on the background rather than the lens, and leave the lens out of focus. I always manual focus in this situation and get sharp shots 100% of the time.

The A540 is around $180 right now. The less expensive($150) A530 may or may not have this option.