Well, it died for a good cause.

Put up a link to Paypal, Ben. We've all enjoyed your work over the last few years. I'm sure many of us would be happy to chip in for TrixieCam v2.0.

Sullivan's World

NO..NO..

TELL ME IT ISN'T TRUE....

SOMEONE SET UP A FUND DRIVE....
MAYBE ALL OF US WILL CONTRIBUTE..
YOU HAVE TO KEEP US UP THE PICS....
YOU ALREADY DROPPED SOME OF THE TELEMENTRIES.
THAT'S BAD ENOUGH!!

NOW WE HAVE TO DEAL WITH NO PICS? BECAUSE OF NO CAMERA?

I too am saddened by the loss of your camera and therefore updated Trixie pics. Hopefully you'll get a new camera soon so my TPOD addiction can be fed ;) I do however, enjoy the new paleo-inspired masthead. How very appropriate!

As it happens, our camera died on Friday. And as it also happens, we got a (very, very) early wedding gift from my fiancee's grandfather today - a brand spanking new Casio Exilim EX Z-750. 7.2 megapixels, very tiny, very sexy. Probably too "amateur" for your tastes, Ben, but the reviews (which are quite good) do note that it has a surprising level of manual features that most cameras this size lack.

oh ben! how i mourn for your loss. i cant live without my cameras. i recieved a Nikon D100 for xmas last year and absolutly adore it!!! quite pricey, but it is a dream to shoot with. heres to happy hunting for a new one on your end..

Thanks for the support guys. (And I want to reassure Debi that this is not the end of TPODs!)

I normally like to research items for a few weeks before buying, but I'm speeding up the process in this case. I discovered that Circuit City has no-interest financing through May 2007 (so no tip jar is necessary), and I'm hopefully going to be able swing over there this afternoon and pick up a replacement :)

Here's the three cameras that are on the short list:
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H1

Canon PowerShot S2 IS

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ5

Based on the reviews at dpreview.com, I'm leaning toward the Sony. If anyone uses any of these cameras (especially the Panasonic), I'd love to hear about the it. thanks!

Just out of curiosity...what criteria are you using to find your camera? I have pined for a Sony Mavica for YEARS now, ever since my hubby's office bought about 5 of them and he brought one home for the weekend to do some "extra" work (aka kiddie pics). Right now I'm on a pitiful Easyshare, which is OKAY, but not GREAT. I'd love to have something that could take more than one picture every 10 - 15 seconds!

Good luck - can't wait to hear what you get!

Our camera just died last week also. I am mourning it, and I'm in camera withdrawal. We had a Sony P8, and in less than 2 years it broke. =( We should have bought the entended warranty I guess. Now we are looking at Canons, they seem to have the best reviews. I dream of the Nikon D70, which is pricier.

Hi, Ben,

I've had the panasonic (well, a slightly older Lumix DMC-FZ10) for over a year now and I love mine! I've included my flickr account addy here. The photos on it were all taken with the panasonic. I've also included my email address. Feel free to email with any questions you have.

You have to be careful when using the digital zoom to use a tripod, but the image stabilizer is a big help!

hi Karen: I just came home with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ5 and saw your comment. I'm glad you like it. I'm looking forward to seeing how it does :)

All right get cracking on those pictures ;)

Now we are *expecting* Halloween pictures!

Ben,

We have an older version of the Panasonic Lumix. It's about 2 yrs old. Sorry, I don't recall what model number (it's at home). Maybe I could get my husband to give you this opinions and the exact model # (he never posts comments). I know when he did his extensive research, he searched for a while & like it b/c of the manual features. We've really loved it! It's easy to use, but gives you professional pictures. People always think our pictures (when we print them) are postcards. We got rave reviews with the quality of our X-Mas card picutes the last few years.

-Lori :)

I meant X-Mas card "pictures."
I'd use spell check if it were an option.
My fingers type faster than I think sometimes.

Yay! So, now we will get Halloween pictures?? Please, please, please?? ;o)

Our Sony camera died 2 weeks ago while we were on vacation (great timing!). We ended up purchasing a Canon 350 Elph and the Canon is much much easier to use. A friend of ours noted that Sony makes so many different consumer electronics, that they aren't exceptional in any of them. Where Canon is pretty focused on cameras. Based on our experience, seems about right. Plus Sony still uses proprietary memory, where Canon doesn't.

Good luck!

Ben,

Just a thought... the new cameras you are buying are all going to be at least 2 times the physical size of your old S110 (pretty sure that was what you were using.) They will of course do an amazing job but I bet like me you found that having a pocketable camera you could easily take with you everywhere was invaluable with a baby and toddler. With the amount of photos you take and your interest in photography consider getting the pocket camera AND something that will do a few more things.

Canon's latest and greatest in the line you just came from are the SD450 and the SD550 (which I am using) and both are amazing (but expensive.)

Seeing that this is now a camera-related discussion...

I had an Olympus UZ-2100 - which, for its time, was seen as the holy grail of digital cameras. 21x effective zoom (10x optical, 2.1x digital), 3MP, every other setting under the sun.

I got tired of carrying around a camera with a long lens and my wife was good enough to buy me a new Canon SD400 for our Anniversary this year. And I LOVE IT! It's actually amazing that there's a small camera out there that has the same quality (even better, actually) and all the features of the larger ones.

But the truth is that there are a lot of things that the manufacturers are phasing in and out of their product lines as they test features and styles... and some of the best cameras out there are older.

So while I don't know, Ben, exactly what your requirements are, you might even want to look at some of the older ones on dpreview.com - they're just as good and much cheaper in some cases.

~Jeff

Hey Jeff: I had the Olympus 2100 and loved it! I just wish they made one with higher MP.

Woo I got the sony cyber-shot!! I got it for my birthday and am having fun just playing around with it. I am not a camera coinasseaur (sp?) I don't know much about anything but I do know I love my camera and seeing as you mentioned thinking about getting the same camera makes me feel pretty special. :)