Recommendations

Many customers ask our opinion on which cameras and other equipment we recommend regarding durability, availability of
parts, and expense of servicing. Below are the cameras and manufacturers that we can recommend, based on the quality of
their cameras, the ease of getting parts and price of repair parts, and their cooperation in supplying service information.

Canon - wide range of features, designed for the
average consumer, reasonable parts prices, very
efficient response times.

Olympus - wide range of models, very reasonable
parts prices, efficient response times.

Pentax - very helpful service and parts
departments, efficient response times.

Sony - huge variety of models, wide range of
features, modular design for low repair costs,
parts readily available.

Casio - very nice features, small size, but service
is VERY expensive due to parts prices and overly
complex designs.

Fuji - repair parts almost impossible to obtain,
little communication, no response to inquiries

HP - no parts are available for any HP digital
camera. Has to go to HP for trade-up.

Infocus - no parts are sold by Infocus for their
LCD projectors - they charge $150 estimate fee.

Kodak - average quality, Kodak does not sell
most internal camera parts. Cameras must be
returned to factory service centers by the owner
for service. Factory service is expensive and they
charge for estimates. Kodak is on the verge of
Chapter 11 bankruptcy as of 2012.

Konica/Minolta - Sony has taken over all parts,
most are no longer available.

Nikon - since 2010 their camera factories in
politically unstable countries like Thailand began
to affect parts availability. As of July 2012 a new
Nikon policy will make repair parts no longer
available to over 2000 independent shops
nationwide - following in Kodak's footsteps -
which will result in long wait times and high prices
for factory repairs. Time for a jump to Canon?

Tamron - recent changes in repair parts policies
make parts very hard to obtain. Most internal
parts are not available.

Panasonic - quality optics, up to 24x optical zoom.
Modular design makes for easy economical repairs.
Parts readily available.