"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.


The big thing about the SLRs vs the compact cameras is the size of the
processer.
I saw an illustration where the D40s processor looked like a 35mm slide
compared to an old 110 frame equaling a compact.
Dramatic difference!
Another concern...I really like to control shutter speed, F stop and focus
manually. ( re my Minolta SRT200 manual film SLR)
I'll have to go to a real camera store and find out what the Canon compacts
can do.