Hi all.  Any of you Canon Power Shot owners out there ever have to replace a lense? Is it worth it to replace the lense--or just go out and purchase a whole new camera? We accidentally got a rock chip on the outside of our lense and there is an annoying spot in the pictures now.  Any help would be most appreciated.

Thanks! :)

~ Amanda

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave..."

Thanks Manda--that's what I was thinking.  Probably at least half what a new camera would cost just to replace the lense unit.  Anyone have an SLR? Are they pretty swank?

I have a Samsung Digital SLR which was snapped up after it was reduced from £500 to under £300.

It is, quite simply, f*cking awesome.

There are quite a few lovely DSLR's out there within a reasonable price range now. Enough in fact that I couldn't even make a decision when it came time to buy one, so I made a compromise and bought the Canon G9, which I love in very dirty, nasty, whorish ways. :) I liken it to being a midway point between compact digital and DSLR. Very happy.

If you're looking to upgrade, I recommend checking reviews and comments on CNET, and then looking at specs on Steve's Digicams. Don't go completely by what Steve says though...he's the asshat who said the Sony Cybershot W200 was a fantastic camera (it is in the perfect well-lit environment...if you want flash shots, you get nothing but artifacts). But he's really good at walking through all the features of a camera so you'll know if something has exactly what you're looking for or not. Don't listen to Amazon reviews. You either get a ton of fanbois or angry people who've had bad experiences. Not enough middle ground to be fair with.

~ Amanda

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave..."

I REALLY like my Panasonic Ultra-zoom (DMC-fz50).  Did my research on this great site:  http://www.dpreview.com/

and this was the best a year ago or so.

It isn't an SLR, and if that's what you want you should get an SLR, but it is a very powerful, flexible camera with a nice screen, descent zoom, good video, etc.

It's funny because when I upgraded to the Sony last year, I went from an old Nikon Coolpix 4300 (3.2 megapixels! WOO!) to the 12.1 megapixel W200...and I found myself craving the photos I used to get from my old beat-up Nikon! :) That Nikon was a workhorse. It had been dropped so many times and it kept going and going...it's STILL going...gave it to my brother, who still gets great photos from it.

Anyway, sidetrack there.

The latest Nikon Coolpix camera with the touch-screen is supposed to be pretty good. You also can't go wrong continuing with the PowerShot family either. Casio's Exilim line has turned out some pretty good stuff. I've given three of those as gifts and the recipients all love them. Olympus had a compact digi that turned my crank earlier this year but I don't remember the model or why I ended up not choosing it...Also have heard good things about Panasonic's cameras, as Bio mentioned above. The possibilities are endless!

And if you go the DSLR route...oh, the endless possibilities there! :D It's almost mind-boggling really...

~ Amanda

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave..."

Jordan .