Good afternoon!  Hope everyone is having a pleasant day!

I've been shopping around for a new camera and find everything very confusing.  I've read article after article and feel that I'm no closer to buying a camera than when I started looking.  I know there are some members that take beautiful pictures and wonder if anyone can recommend a camera.  

My photographic experience is mainly point-and-shoot.  The Canon Elph was always good to me and I use to upgrade every time canon came out with a new one.  Been through about 4 of those and wanted a few more features so I bought a waterproof Olympus (don't remember model) which was horrible.  Gave it a good try but couldn't take any nice pictures with it.  Then I went with a waterproof Nikon Coolpix which was a little better than the Olympus but still fell short of the Canon Elph.  Gave it all up a few years ago when cameras on cell phones started to get a little better and have been using that ever since.

Recently I find that I'd like to start taking some nice pictures of family, figs and scenery.  iPhone has been ok but I'd like to have some really nice pictures.  Would like to stay away from anything with interchangeable lenses and a steep learning curve.  Willing to spend $700-$800.  Can anyone recommend a camera?

Can't recommend a camera for you.  It really does depend on understanding what you need and then selecting the best camera that will serve your purpose.  I recommend taking a brief online course on photography just to know the basics and see what you really want to do.

I have always had Cannon SLRs and have been very happy with them.
Currently I have Cannon EOS T5i with a standard (18-55) and a telephoto lens (55-255) and a few filters for UV and colour correction. 
I do hate having to haul around the extra heavy lens but it is the only way to catch some nice wildlife photos.  
Here is a shot of a couple of young coyote in my backyard from 200 yards or so early evening.   Would not have been able to capture this without the telephoto and sync feature.

What type of pictures are you going to take with your camera? And what form factor would you find acceptable (i.e. how big a camera)? Since you prefer to not have interchangeable lenses and are coming from a point and shoot experience, I'm going to assume that you like using the automatic settings on your camera and don't want to futz with the manual controls. If that's true, you can get large[r] sensor cameras in a P&S form factor which will take nicer pictures over a wider variety of shooting conditions than your typical P&S cameras and iphone. The two I'm most familiar with are the Canon S series (S95, S100, S110, S120, etc) and the Sony RX100 series. The Canons can be had well under your $700 budget, and the older RX100 versions can also be under your budget. Both should give you decent pictures in full automatic mode, and they both give you the option of manual control should decide you want to start playing around with those settings.

I'll also second the recommendation about a photography basics online tutorial. Some basic understanding of photography principles can help with your decision and also improve your shooting technique.

Check out the Nikon P900 P&S with 83x zoom.  Better zoom than you can get on any DSLR under $35,000 used  :)  I have a nice DSLR and I'm tempted to get one.  It has a good enough vibration reduction that you can hand hold at that zoom and get great photos.  It runs from $527 to $599.  You'll need a memory card and possibly a spare battery.  Cannon, Panasonic and Sony have 50 - 60x zoom versions but I haven't looked in to them.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/photography/hands-review/nikon-p900-new-king-superzooms

https://photographylife.com/reviews/nikon-coolpix-p900

Here's a guide to help you choose what kind of cameras you might be interested in.  Scroll down to see the different ways to slice and dice
http://www.dpreview.com/buying-guides?utm_campaign=internal-link&utm_source=mainmenu&utm_medium=text&ref=mainmenu

Here's comparative reviews of the types of cameras I imagine you'd be most interested in

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/dpreview-recommends-best-compact-cameras-for-travel-2015

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/2015-superzoom-camera-roundup

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/2015-roundup-advanced-zoom-compacts

Good luck with your decision!

Thanks for the responses.  I really appreciate it.

Bob, I think you might have nailed it.  Pricing now.

Thank you for the detailed info Bob.  Just ordered from BH.  Bonus free ship and no tax.  Purchased 3 yr drop/spill insurance plan and was still under budget.  Nice!

The camera looks like exactly what I was looking for.  dpreview.com was particularly helpful.  Other website was big help too.

I'll be able to take pics of figs from a mile away now.  LOL!

Thanks again!

Danny

Rob Ster knows about cameras, contact him via FB

Just in case anyone is interested....

Have been playing with the new Nikon  P900 for a few days now and it's great.  I'm finding it very easy to use.  Controls seem to be in all the right places.  Not as heavy as expected.  Easy to hold with one hand and shoot so I'll be able to get those nice fig photos.  The super-zoom is outrageous.  I've only been playing with it but wow!  Nikon really did a good job with that.  Can't wait to get it out in the country and go for a hike.  Photo playback is easy.  Takes great low-light/indoor shots without the flash.  There's still lots more to discover on the camera.  I'll post some pictures taken with it soon.

GO here:  You will be amazed at what others use!

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/what-kind-of-camera-do-you-use-6166335?pid=1285398225

I'm glad you got what you wanted. I'm going to have to hold off for a while. It can focus 1 cm from the lens, too. I 'd love to see photos of close-ups and distant things.

Right out of the box, battery inserted and punching away, here are a few close-up's:

     

Taken indoors close to a window with indirect sunlight coming through.  No flash, auto setting, off-hand and holding the cutting board in the other hand.  Additionally, both of these pics were reduced in size by 65% or more to be uploaded here.  I'm more than impressed.  Colors are great and detail is phenomenal.  I can zoom in and see that my NY quarter needs to be dusted.

These zoom photos were taken off-hand, consecutively, in auto setting.  Cloudy outside.  First pic in lowest zoom level and last pic in highest zoom level.  I've never had a camera that can take pics like this.  You can actually see the feathers and beak of the bird in the last pic.  Not bad for a beginner with a new cam right out of the box!

         

More to come.

Impressive, thanks.