Got asked an interesting question by my wife yesterday as I was showing her how to operate my new camera (want to make sure she can use it when she needs to borrow). She asked me how long I thought this one would last before I needed to buy another one.

Since she's big on long range budgets, I knew where the question was coming from :-)

My take is that the Canon S2 IS I bought should get us by for at least two years. Any reason that I might be wrong on that? I'm not aware of any revolutionary improvements coming down the pike, and short of wishing there were bigger capacity storage cards, I would think that 5 MP will get me any size print I'm likely to need in the short term.

Curiously yours,
Ewan

The S2 is an excellent camera. I don’t see why it shouldn’t still be in use 5 or more years from now. As you point out, 5Mp is good for most purposes unless you want some very large prints for the wall.

She might someday want a small camera she can always have with her in her purse, but that likely wouldn’t replace the S2. I’m still using my FZ10 for nature photos and have no plans to replace it. It is now 2 generations back, and will probably be a lot more outdated before replacement. It isn't as good a camera overall IMO as the S2.

As I argue over here;

http://www.stevesforums.com/forums/v...427797#p427797

if you're happy with the quality of the pictures your camera is taking, you might never need to replace it. The only reasons to replace a camera are 1) The camera breaks,or 2) You are tempted by newer cameras that have more settings, more control, a better lens, a smaller size, or something that makes it easier to take good pictures or to carry around. So if you like the pictures you're taking, and if you really know your camera and how to squeeze the most of its performance, then the only real good reason to get a new one would be getting a fancier one so you have more control over the picture-taking - in other words, if you outgrow your camera. In that way, an SLR is the only way you can guarantee you will not outgrow your camera.

But an S2-IS has nearly all the control offered by an SLR with a lower cost and many advantages (a long lens with IS for an SLR would cost quite a bit), so that would be a good idea too.

(And I too have an FZ10 and no plans of getting rid of it, even though I also have a 10D).

I agree that your Canon could be happily enjoyed for 5 or more years, unless you decide to upgrade to a dSLR for some reason. The only reason I got a new camera was that my beloved Sony F717 had developed intermittent problems. While the Panasonic does things my Sony didn't, the quality of the pictures isn't that much different.

About the only thing that might tempt me in 2 years might be the next generatiion of the Sony R1 (which would hopefully be cheaper), and I'd still have to think hard about doing that.

In all fairness, you are in FULL CONTROL. If you get the itch for a new camera, you are going to get a new digital camera. Let's face facts.

MT