Bay, I seem to have the same problem with expensive cameras and their accessories. These past five years I've thrown away 4 expensive cameras including one Nikon because of one failure or another because I couldn't find anyone who was capable of fixing them without charging a huge expense.
So now I accept the fact that I somehow unknowningly abuse cameras and their accessories (lens's), etc ... and now only purchase cheap cameras in the $100 to $125 price range which seem to work just as well photo-wise but they do .... BREAK A LOT FASTER.
I actually cried when my Nikonos was broken down to ever conceivable part in my attempt to clean it and discovered that it was impossible to place together again. So now I use a Kodak in a plastic see through baggy.
Might be a lesson here someplace for ya.
I do not buy expensive cameras for this very reason. I am in the market for a new camera and I will buy it the same way I bought my last camera: do not buy a brand new camera. Buy one that is one or two model years old (like cars a new model comes out every year). Chances are that a one or two year old model will still have advanced features that you will never use and because it is a year or two old you can often buy it for less than half on ebay!
Find the model you want and read all the reviews about it, and view sample images from it here
http://www.dpreview.com/. This site has a database of virtually all digital cameras—even old and discontinued models.
Once you find the model you want search for it on ebay. You are sure to find many of them for sale. And sometimes you can find that two year old model for sale (from a camera shop for example) and you can buy it brand new!
I bought my last Olympus camera that way and I’m bidding on a new one right now.
