Expert: John Oliverio - 2/14/2007

Question
Hi John
I am going to be buying a new camera soon.  I now have a Fuji A310. Not bad but time to upgrade.Any suggestions for a good camera.  I am thinking of a Canon Powershot S2 or S3.  I was thinking of a Nikon but my daughters 6 month old Nikon S3 just broke......sensor gone. I will be taking mostly pictures of people and want to spend no more than 400 - 500 Canadian $.  Thank you

PS our Nikon camera has been in for repair for almost 7 weeks and they are saying another 2 weeks at least.  Is this unreasonable in your eyes.  I think they should replace the camera.

Answer
Anne,
Hello.  Thanks for the question.
The Canon S3 is a great little camera.  It has a big zoom and image stabilizer.  And I've seen some great images from it.  The S2, by the way is discontinued.  If there is a Nikon you like, I wouldn't worry about the fact that your daughters broke.  I've seen that happen to cameras of all the different makers.  Just bad luck.  It could happen to Canon as well.  

As for the repair time on the S3....  Weather is it is reasonable or not is debatable.  But it is normal.  Repairs simply take a long time.  There are not enough people that can do repairs and they are kept very busy.  And as we say in the business, there is no such thing as a happy repair customer!  Replacement is at the discretion of the repair facility.  They will do which ever is cheapest.  That's just the way business is.  I personally would rather have a camera repaired because if they replace it they don't have to give you a new one.  You could end up with a "refurb" that has more hours on it than your old one.  Once again, this is a problem with all the camera makers and has been the whole time I've been in the business.

John