How often do you buy a new Camera?

[c2ironfist]

Just recently after buying my Optio S40 in early October I replaced it in January not even 4 months after I bought it with the SD300 hoping that I'd have a bettor camera with bettor features.

There are still a few mixed feelings about the decision.

There were a lot of good and bad things I liked about the decision but the good ones don't justify the amount of money I spent for the SD300

My question how often to you buy or replace your digital Camera? :)

[kgosden]

For me it has been every 18-24 months. But I am confident that this period will now stretch out. 6-7 years ago you absolutely had to buy early and often to get an obviously better camera just in basic resolution. Now that I am at 5MP I am more interested in features that might show up over time. That said, it will take some really unique ones to open my wallet. I tend to own at least two digicams at all times, a small pocket sized snapshot camera and a larger one with more controls. I might even add a third such as a mid sized superzoom like the Panasonic FZ3.

Features that would make me buy are better shutter response on a full press of the button. Many point and shoots are getting that right these days like the Canon SD2/300. These could tempt me to abandon my aging Dimage (but I would really miss the excellent UW case I have for it). On the higher end I am waiting for companies to introduce a few things that were impossible to do with film cameras. How about a sensor with a variable ISO range in a single image? Wouldn't it be great if you could flip a switch and allow the camera to keep the highlights at ISO50 and push the shadows to 200? Better still a touch screen that would allow you to draw a horizon line and effectively create a graduated neutral density filter on the fly. Why not there are Nikons that auto-correct redeye in camera.

[Rhys]

For me, I've been replacing cameras with decreasing rapidity.

Let's see...

Olympus C820L 1.3mp - bought secondhand and sold secondhand 6 months later.
Olympus C200Zoom - bought straight after the C820L was sold. Sold that after 6 months.
Nikon 995 - bought a couple of months after selling my C200Zoom. I still have it although I only use it these days for macro photography and tend to run it on 2CR5s rather than Nikon's ENEL1 - purely because I don't keep an ENEL1 charged.
Nikon 3100 - bought for a summer holiday - used extensively on holiday. I still use it because it's such a handy shirt-pocket camera.
Canon S1IS - given to me by my girlfriend. That has a fantastic zoom and a fantastic video mode. I keep that and use it as my creative landscape camera.

Essentially, I've stopped buying digital cameras now. I have an ultraportable camera, a long-zoom camera and a macro camera. What more do I need? They're all 3 megapixel and will all print a supurb A4 image - possibly larger, even. I don't know how large they'll go because my and my girlfriend's printers are A4 only.

What would make me buy a newer camera? I suppose if I need more megapixels then I'd be tempted - or if one or more of my cameras gave up the ghost. Other than that, I see no reason to buy another. I have the quality I need and don't need to shell more money out.

[Newbie]

My only reason to replace my camera is if the one I currently own no longer fits its purpose, which is to take pictures. I made some research to find the proper one for me and I found it. So now, I am very unlikely to buy any digital until it breaks or that I give it to someone... I would hate to change camera if it works well. I know that some people like to always have the latest gadget, but that is not my case, so I stick with what I like.

[Rex914]

At this point, you shouldn't be replacing a camera unless it breaks, becomes unusable or if you suddenly become interesting in fiddling more with manual controls. We're pretty much past the point where upgrading would be done solely on the premise of getting better technology. I'm looking to upgrade an old 2 Megapixel camera from 2000-2001, so that's a sufficient reason to upgrade.

I guess we'll be seeing 7-8 megapixel cameras as the norm in a couple years, maybe even in 2006, but there's no real compelling reason to upgrade if you already have a 5 MP camera. It's not going to improve the quality of snapshots by much if at all, and there's always the chance of getting a camera that takes worse pictures than what you already have.

[TDT]

I tend to agree with everyone here about upgrading their camera. I could see it being done often in the past years since new MP cameras were coming out all the time, and needed for better photography - but at 5-8MP or so now, that pretty much prints out as big as things we can create. The extra megapixels don't help much that I can see after 5-8 or so.

I, personally, have a Nikon 8700 - my first digital camera. I find it even a bit much for why I bought it. I find myself editing photos a lot though, so the 8 megapixels does help out some in those instances - but, most things I take pictures of that i got this camera for (web development, image work), and this camera is a little too high...heh.

[kornhauser]

I upgrade when a camera is too cool not to have! :)

[Rhys]

I like the old rule of thumb for megapixels:

6x4 - 1.3mp
5x7 - 2mp
8x10 (or A4) - 3mp

More is obviously nicer to have but the memory cards are that much more expensive too. Currently I am very satisfied with 3mp.

When I did 35mm occasionally I would enlarge a section of a negative but that was very occasionally. After I moved into slides, cropping had to be done at the exposure stage. I'm happy to continue that method too.

My only gripe thus far with digital is that the cameras are not well balanced and thus it can be tricky to get a level horizon.

[Ant]

My only gripe thus far with digital is that the cameras are not well balanced and thus it can be tricky to get a level horizon.

Another reason to get a DSLR...which are perfectly balanced, and have optional gridline guides in the viewfinder. ;) Not that I can get my photos constantly level even then :(

I buy a new camera when the old one doesn't do what I want it to do any more.

I had a fuji finepix A204, which was great for snapshots, but when I decided to merge my new found interest in photography (thanks to digital) with my long running interest in aviation it wasn't good enough, so I sold it a year later to get an Olympus C750uz. That was much better, unfortunately, still too slow to catch the fast moving pics that I wanted, so after a few months I got a Nikon D70, but still kept the C750 for less challenging stuff.

Now six months later and I'm about to buy another new camera. If I'm out with friends or at a party my D70 gear is totally impractical...everybody thinks the press has turned up, and my C750 isn't exactly pocket sized either, so I'm looking at one of those cheap little Olympus µ pocket cameras.

[gary_hendricks]

I just upgraded my point-and-shoot camera (a 2 megapixel Canon S110) with a 5 megapixel Canon S500. That's after 3 years.

I also own a Nikon D-70 (which I'm very happy with and don't intend to change for sometime). ;)

[jamison55]

Let's see...

2001 - JamCam, then Argus dc3200
2002 - Canon A40
2004 - Canon A80 (three months later) Olympus 5050 (two months later) Canon Digital Rebel (and a bunch of accessories that add up to the price of another!)
2005 - Canon A300 (to kick around - cheaper than my original JamCam!), then Canon 20D

Hopefully I'm done for a little while (now for more lenses!), though I do faintly hear the siren call of a 1DSmkII...

[PeteD]

I bought myself a Dimage Z1 for my birthday in November, being sick of P&S compacts that I only used on beach holidays.

Since then I have gone into feeding frenzy - I now have the Z1, a Caplio RZ1, and 2 Minolta X300 film cameras, together with 2 zoom lenses....

Maybe I should open a shop, buying and selling cameras, and keeping back the ones I fall in love with.