Tell him to invest in 60 or so disposable camerasfor that same $300. At least you'll get results from the new disposable. I love point and shoots but I would never spend more than $20 on a point ad shoot camera which is no longer produced, no longer has a stock of repair parts and is no longer serviced by anyone. Especially if the parent company has gone under or been absorbed by a huge conglomerate, like Sony. I repair point and shoots (as well as everything else I can get my hands on) and from what I've seen over the last few years, they should be considered disposable. That is, bought at a low price from a charity shop, used and when, not if, they fail, they should be recycled for spare parts or E waste. $300 is a good price to spend on a Leica IIIc, a camera that will be around for the next century, if properly maintained. There is no proper maintenance for point and shoot cameras in spite of their cost because of degrading boards, oxidizing circuitry and failing ribbon cables. I've been working on getting a Konica FT1 working properly, over the last 4 months. I've gone through 3 camera bodies and have seen the same failures in all of them. This was a top shelf camera from the mid-1980s that is simply going bad due to oxidation and there is nothing we can do about that. Even if I find a NOS FT1 in the box, nothing will have prevented oxidation of the delicate cables and boards during te last 35 years. The same is true for every electronic camera (though some are built better than others), and especially true for point and shoots.
Phil Forrest
