Well I think it was in 2002 that I bought my Sony f717, picked above everything else for it's colour accuracy which was the best around, low noise and versatile form - effectively being able to use the camera as though it had a waist level finder was a huge bonus to me as I often shoot from the ground :) Hot shoe without the voltage constraints of other cameras, zeiss lens - it was all good :) No dust on the sensor given the zoom was fixed, and it covered all the focal lengths I would reasonably expect to use (digitally anyway ;) It went with me to Laos and shot well through the water festival of Pi Mai (new year), handled the bumps and thumps nicely with it's cast aluminium housing and titanium main bolt resisting anything I threw at it, and generally did everything I wanted it to right up until the exposure check shots of the comet then the next day I turned it on and shot this: http://members.iinet.net.au/~shahjen@xxxxxxxxxxxx/images/ebay/DSC03560.jpg Yup, the dreaded 'sony sensor' bug got my camera. I'll be forwarding it off to the supplier for the promised out-of-warranty repair, which btw, is available to all the Nikon users too who's cameras have Sony sensors, and I'll report back when the camera returns Annoying though. Unlike film where I have multiple bodies for almost all my cameras (4+5 matching 35mm's, 2 matching 645's, 2 matching 66's, etc) I have only the one digital. unless I count my phone .. k
