"Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq." wrote in message
...
D.Duck wrote:
"Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq." wrote in message
news
Don White wrote:
Wife wants to upgrade from my 3 yr old HP R707 compact digital camera.
This camera works fine...although the original battery doesn't seem to
hold its charge as long anymore while sitting on the shelf.
Costco just happens to have a super price $270.00 CDN
for its popular Canon A650 IS compact.
I also see the Nikon D40 on sale here with lens at just under $500.00.
I can't justify the higher end SLRs...especially when they seem be be
somewhat obsolete every three or four years
vs the old manual film SLRs that were still fine after 20-25 years .My
usage these days is more snapshot than trying to be artistic...although
I do like to do justice to scenery.
The D40 is a great simple to use camera, that can be used in it's auto
settings or allow you to manually adjust all settings.
It is light weight and you and your wife will absolutely be pleased with
the quality.
As far as the "obsolete" factor. The digital cameras will only be
obsolete, if you want the new and improved features of the newer
improved digital cameras. If you are pleased with the camera, you can
expect over 100,000 photos from the D40. A digital camera will have an
expectant average life similar to the average film cameras.
Just curious. What is the *wear out* mechanism in a digital camera?
The shutter and mirror mechanisms are a problem with both digital and
film. It needs to flip up to take the photo, but not allow any light
through when it is in the down position. They can lock up or lose there
ability to close completely and not allow any light to pass through. My
wife had an old film camera that the foam around the mirror (to block the
light in the down position), dried up and needed to be replaced. It was
not worth the expense to repair.
With Digital cameras your image sensor can burn out or get enough bad
pixels that you will want to replace them, but I have never heard anyone
who replaced a camera due to this problem.
Thanks. That's just about what I was thinking.