Given that photography is a little bit of an obsession for me, it is not surprising that my camera is like my left hand (yes, it’s a south paw too), always with me, always expected to support my habit. Except lately it hasn’t been.  It’s starting to let me down, not perform as I expect, and this is really starting to irk me.

I am not talking about the normal, feature-, lens-envy-, or speed-based issues, all of which I have. I chose this camera knowing what it could and could not do, and I live with that until I buy my next one.  The problems I am having fall in the my camera is letting me down column, and this is a problem.  It started with little things, like not wanting to focus on objects where there was low contrast and not having the focus lock engage when it should.  Lately I have noticed that the preview refuses to come on when I press the button, that the failure to focus  has become more frequent in all lighting and contrast situations, and that sometimes the shutter out and out refuses to engage.  Today I noticed that the shutter button is sticking all the time, making focus lock stay engaged.  Normally I have time to pop it back up, but when chasing the lils it’s not always possible.  Either I move or they move and the picture is gone or out of focus before I can correct.

The camera has over 30,000 pictures taken on it, but it is only three years old!  So the pro/con lists for several new DSLRs have now been started.  The wish list that I have for lenses and gear is big and expensive.  I am all good with that, Willy is not as good with it, so I am hoping for some price drops as the newest models are released, or I am gonna have some negotiating to do.  My camera is going to regret refusing to allow focus for this cuteness at the park today: