ok, after the camera research I spent the rest of the day looking a bit closer at all the options listed here. I've relaxed my needs list to a shorter list of non-negotiables:
http://www.webhostingsearch.com/articles/flat-file-cms.phpand in the comments. Man these things are everywhere. Most of them use markdown, aren't blog focused or inactive dev.
Here are my findings with potentials marked with asterisks. Key at bottom.
razorcms - no rss
*feindura - rss, not updated in 1.5 years, tutorial for styling to your html/css though!
*flatpress - uses smarty template engine not easy interface - image upload didn't work. Not updated in 9 months
monstra more of a cms than blog - blog is plugin. editor not great, no image upload
anchor cms - not updated in 2 years
phile - no editor (markdown)
cmssimple - full site cms, blog is addon
stacey - 5 yrs old
wondercms - 2 years old beta
ghost - markdown editor
***
https://www.pulsecms.com/ $75/5 pack license lifetime. Has rss, rich text editor, active dev
**http://mecha-cms.com/ - possibly worthy, pretty new and looks rough, but workable? RSS, rich text editor, image upload, post urls look good, cats unknown?
? getkirby.com
?
http://statamic.com/ pricing is high, but running out of options
* possibly worth checking deeper, but old
** very new, maybe clunky potential
*** best I saw so far
? maybe, I'm tired of looking at this sh##.
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alright rc, after the camera and now this, the beers' on you.