Canon S70 - E18

I've had this camera for about 3 years and have taken perhaps 300 pics.
It gave up the ghost with the code E18, the lenses won't retract. It has
never been dropped and was clean inside. It was repaired in Asia for
$20 in September, but that was short lived as it failed again on Halloween.

The local camera shop (with a great reputation and sells primarily Canon
cameras) said they could send it to Canon for repair for about $175. I
thought this quite expensive to probably replace a plastic gear or two,
but was told that Canon replaces the entire lens mechanism, including
the lenses and that's the only way they will do it.

So I started searching for a replacement camera, and apparently anything
that has close to the features of the S70 (excluding raw) would cost 4
to $500. And of course, you get a bit more such as up to 15 megapixels
and anti-shake and more zoom, as opposed to about 3.1. Since I'm quite
steady, I'm not worried about the shake and question the need for 15mp
as opposed to 7.1 for the typical non-commercial pics I take -- they
seem to print fairly well on 4x6 paper, haven't tried 8-1/2x11, but
perhaps will.

The shop suggested a new Canon such as G7, A720, or a SX100 -- along
those lines. Bearing in mind that after searching the net for E18 I'm a
bit leery of Canon's retractable lenses -- perhaps all point & shoots!
And also the extras I now have such as leather case, 2 good batteries, 2
x 1gb fast CF cards, and 3 different types of wall chargers. All of
these are now quite a bit cheaper than when I bought them, but that's
still added investment. The drawbacks to the S70 are numerous, but can
be lived with -- the small LCD which is only about 80% of the pic,
although I prefer to use the view finder. And the settings are a bit
laborious without large size setup on the screen. And the flash only
carries a couple of meters which is quite insufficient more many indoor
pics -- and I believe it difficult or expensive to carry a second flash
that would operate in conjunction with or without the included flash.

What's the opinion, fix the old camera or spend more and buy another --
and what kind that wouldn't cost more than say $400 base price?? Any
tips you may have would certainly be appreciated.
Miles

* Miles wrote:
I've had this camera for about 3 years and have taken perhaps 300 pics.
It gave up the ghost with the code E18, the lenses won't retract. It has
never been dropped and was clean inside. It was repaired in Asia for
$20 in September, but that was short lived as it failed again on Halloween.

The local camera shop (with a great reputation and sells primarily Canon
cameras) said they could send it to Canon for repair for about $175. I
thought this quite expensive to probably replace a plastic gear or two,
but was told that Canon replaces the entire lens mechanism, including
the lenses and that's the only way they will do it.

So I started searching for a replacement camera, and apparently anything
that has close to the features of the S70 (excluding raw) would cost 4
to $500. And of course, you get a bit more such as up to 15 megapixels
and anti-shake and more zoom, as opposed to about 3.1. Since I'm quite
steady, I'm not worried about the shake and question the need for 15mp
as opposed to 7.1 for the typical non-commercial pics I take -- they
seem to print fairly well on 4x6 paper, haven't tried 8-1/2x11, but
perhaps will.

The shop suggested a new Canon such as G7, A720, or a SX100 -- along
those lines. Bearing in mind that after searching the net for E18 I'm a
bit leery of Canon's retractable lenses -- perhaps all point & shoots!
And also the extras I now have such as leather case, 2 good batteries, 2
x 1gb fast CF cards, and 3 different types of wall chargers. All of
these are now quite a bit cheaper than when I bought them, but that's
still added investment. The drawbacks to the S70 are numerous, but can
be lived with -- the small LCD which is only about 80% of the pic,
although I prefer to use the view finder. And the settings are a bit
laborious without large size setup on the screen. And the flash only
carries a couple of meters which is quite insufficient more many indoor
pics -- and I believe it difficult or expensive to carry a second flash
that would operate in conjunction with or without the included flash.

What's the opinion, fix the old camera or spend more and buy another --
and what kind that wouldn't cost more than say $400 base price?? Any
tips you may have would certainly be appreciated.
Miles

Didn't receive any replies, so bit the bullet and had it repaired by
Canon who supposedly replaced the entire lens mechanism. Total cost
including shipping and tax was $140, considerably lower than
anticipated. And considerably lower than a comparable camera at $500
or more (however with some newly added features and larger LCD.)
Miles