I'm getting a "new" camera!!!!! WOOT!

I sent my Canon S1 IS in for repair and the invoice for the fix came back to me in an email--they want it paid for first. But the email also included the option to upgrade to the S3 IS for just a few dollars more than the repair was for. Nuh uh! Really???

It's a pretty awesome camera, although it's refurbished, with nearly twice the megapixels of my S1, a 12x zoom over my 10x, an improved image stabilizer, a bigger viewing screen, and several other little upgrades that I'm tickled to pieces to have. Maximum image size on the S3 is 2816 x 2112 vs. my current camera's 2048 x 1536 max--that means I can finally submit some stuff to my favorite stock photography site (to sell). Up until now, my images have been just a few pixels too small for them.

Camera of my dreams? No. Camera that will serve me extremely well and that I'll enjoy using? YES! And, who knows, in another couple of years I may get to upgrade to the S5 for almost nothing more than trading in the S3.

Honestly, it's such a great deal for me. This refurbished S3 is only $5 more than it would cost to get my S1 repaired and it comes with a six month warranty--I didn't get a warranty of any kind when hubby got me the refurbished S1 so many years ago! I feel kind of bad, I didn't even get to say goodbye to my S1. I guess they'll refurbish it again and sell it to somebody else. I hope they appreciate it as much as I have.

Since I never could afford accessories for my S1, this is a great bargain for me. I'm losing nothing but gaining a lot. Well, okay, the 4GB memory card was a tad pricey but I'll survive. It did bring the price of this new camera up a bit--but still! I needed a new camera with just a little more and now I've got it! I couldn't have afforded this any other way. I'm thrilled!!!! I love Canon!