ohcanada

I went through the entire lost camera bit in February when I left my Olympus C5000 in a rental car at SYD. A couple of observations:

- you can make a claim on the insurance with some credit cards if the camera was in lost baggage or a hotel room. Mine was in a car, and all of this kind of insurance exclude items lost in a car.

- car rental insurance also generally excludes this kind of loss.

- as noted by cattle, home insurance usually will cover this type of loss, and the cost of deductible/increase in premiums is usually much less than what you get paid to replace the lost camera. You should check however, since it depends on how expensive the camera was and how much gear (memory, case, flash, etc.) you lost with it.

- the insurers will generally have a store that they base their payout on. In my case, it was Henrys, and their price for a C5000 (a great little 5 MB camera, BTW) was about $60 more than Aden Camera (www.adencamera.com) where I bought the original and the replacement. So it pays to shop aroundm and in some cases even with the deductible you can come fairly close to breaking even.

Snoopyo

I lost my Canon S40 a while back and did not realize that I can make a claim on my credit card. I did not do anything since I did not want to claim on homeowners and get an increase in premium.

Oh Canada, under what condition can you claim on the CC? Do I have to paid for the flight and hotel on the CC in order to claim? I am looking into a replacement and was thinking of getting one of the newer Canon Powershot models but open to suggestion :-D

ohcanada

Yes, I think the travel tickets have to be purchased with the card for the insurance coverage to kick in for lost baggage. There are lots of other restrictions too - check the stuff you got when you signed up for the card. Amex in particular gives you lots of info about their insurance coverage.

Mac Attack

Just last month I bought the Casio Exilim ZX-4U. It has very similar features as the Optio (even the same Pentax lens), but it has a longer battery life, and a big 2-inch screen (it really makes a difference). I recently used it on a trip and I loved it. Lots of great features for a point-and shoot, including manual settings. Great photos overall. I highly recommend it.
M

Altaflyer

May have a look at the Casio. Casio makes me think calculators though so ?? reliability etc.. I guess if the lens is the same. Something to think about.

Mac Attack

I had the same reaction at first, but I did a bit of research and it compared very favorably to similar cameras from Pentax, Canon, Olympus, etc...But it's true that there is a brand disconnect and I did experience some cognitive dissonnance for a little while. Once I used it, though, I was converted.


http://exilim.casio.com/

Altaflyer

Well the S4i appeared in stores here today and the deed is done - yeah, got one for $479 at London Drugs (he said it was $499 initially but who am I to argue with a lower price ). The 256MB memory card was $95 after a $10 coupon and I think I will get the accessory pack of an extra battery and case for about $70 when it comes in. Just in time for my trip to Quebec City this weekend! You can also get a diving case for it and use it to 40m which may be a decent buy for me but will wait until closer to my big adventure after Christmas this year. There is a cable to connect to a computer and a cable to connect to a TV so I should be all set.

Youponder

I was in the market for a digital camera recently as well and came accross powerbuycanada.com. It seems fairly new and rudimentary and I can't vouch for their service but the prices seem to be well below typical retail prices.