I’m in the market for a new camera. I didn’t realize it’s been so long, but I’ve had my Canon PowerShot A95 for four years now! A month ago while I was standing on a boulder and taking some pictures on Cedar Mountain, the boulder shifted and I dropped the camera while trying to keep my balance. Ever since that moment, each picture I’ve taken has had some spots on it that are especially noticeable when the upper half of the picture contains a lot of blue sky. I cleaned the outside of my lens with no effect, and I learned yesterday that taking the camera apart to clean the inside of the lens is nearly impossible. I’ve taken almost 15,000 pictures with my current camera and it’s been great, but I’m ready for a new one anyway. It only takes 30 seconds of video at a time, and even then the exposure, focus, and zoom level are set at the beginning of the video, so changes in lighting and distances during the course of a video pose a problem. I’m considering either the Canon PowerShot S5 IS, SX110 IS, or TX1 models. Video has began playing an important role in what I need out of a camera, so the TX1 is looking good to my impulsive side, but the SX110 is appealing to my cheap-ass side. Whatever I decide to get, I think I’ll take another week to think about it, and I’ll be stuck with my A95 for at least this weekend.
Sad to hear about your camera. My sister owns the SX100 and it is just about the same as the S5. Th only difference is zoom, the view finder, and a couple scene modes. The zoom is a little loud while taking video on the SX100.
I loved my S3 and I loved it even more after installing the HDK firmware hack. My buddy has an S5 (with HDK installed) and gets awesome photos (so does Scott). I was so jealous of the tilting LCD screen… Thats one thing I wish my XSi had, all digital cameras should have a tilting LCD like the s3 and S5. You wont really notice how much you love it until its gone!
But I love my EOS XSi.. spendy but well worth it.