HelloFoto

A couple years ago, I was all primed to get into doing photography more, but I didn't have the cash to buy a SLR (single lens reflex) camera (they were so expensive back then) so I settled on a Canon S2 IS, which happened to be a really good camera for the price. As much as I wanted to get into it, I never really did, but since buying a home and looking for decor for my walls, I've gotten a little spark into trying to get my own imagery up on the walls.

So I got my S2 out again - I had already gotten a new pocket-sized point and shoot SD750 camera -- and got a conversion adapter for it with a wide angle conversion lens and a 58mm macro lens, as well as polarizers and UV filters... and then... within hours of all of this, my camera dies. Literally dead. Won't turn on. At first the lens which focuses from 15 to 300+ mm got stuck. Not sure if the gears are misaligned or what, but its a well known issue with certain Canon's and this happened to fall into that negative category. The second issue was when I was cleaning my lens earlier today, the "squirt" bottle that holds the cleaning fluid sprayed out way too much and some of it got into the lower lenses and aperture area and my pictures are now foggy/hazy. Well that is, if I could actually take pictures.

Ugh.

So now here's the dilemna. I was gearing up for my upcoming vacation to Prague/Dublin and a high quality camera is an essential. Now that the current gadget is down for the count, what do I do? I've always wanted an SLR and now the prices have dropped to almost reachable amounts. It's also the time when new models are coming out and older ones being clearanced away. Yea, the Canon XS and XSi's are out now, priced at a very attractive $700 including lens and now featuring SD/SDHC card slots... but you can also find the XT/XTi for nearly half that price. Granted, I would have to buy a new compact flash II card and those run pretty steep...

or i could find myself a used S2 for $150, or S3 for $225 or a new S5 for $399 or so?

or do I just live with the Canon SD750 for a while? Of course that's the obvious budget conscious choice... but i'm a gadget freak and I somehow find myself wasting money on this junk... sacrificing other things for it. :|

anyway, so what else can go wrong?

within the past 5 days:
-sunroof shatters on car
-brand new laptop stops charging battery and needs a replacement motherboard
-toilet clogged up
-gas stove gets honked up
-camera sees its grave, just days/hours after i buy a bundle of accessories
-on top of that, it took 3 hours to get home last night for a 2.25 hour radiohead set. of course, it was totally worth it.