I broke my Digital Rebel 300D this weekend. Got a new Digital Rebel XT in return

So, when I got the Digital Rebel back in October of 2003 I went ahead and purchased the $100 Best Buy Protection Plan, let me tell you what, that was a GREAT investment!

In Denver this past weekend I was shooting photos of the first heat on Saturday. The autofocus quit working, it wouldn’t focus. I could manually focus so I did that so I could continue shooting. Saturday evening I figured out why it wouldn’t focus, sorta, I learned how the focusing mechanism works. Behind the mirror when you remove the lense, is another mirror that sends the image down to a focusing mechanism. For some reason my mirror wasn’t in the correct position.

I pushed on that smaller mirror, and was able to focus for one picture, after that though I was unable to take any photos as that mirror was no longer attached so that it would fold up, it would only hang down and make it so that the sensor was only about 1/4 exposed. I took off the lense and noticed a small spring fell out. I kept that just in case.

I was able to tape this small mirror up, and shoot another 400+ photos on Sunday, manually focusing of course.

On Monday morning I found my reciept for the digital rebel and made sure I had the service plan. I went to the Best Buy that I purchased the Camera at and was told that they would be able to get me a camera of comperable settings, but not at the same price I originally paid. So a refresher, the Digital Rebel 300D is a Canon Digital SLR that takes 6.3MP shots. Well, there isn’t anything comparable to that anymore, except for the Digital Rebel XT which takes 8MP shots, and costs the same as I originally paid for my 300D, $999.

So after a bit of talking they okayed giving me the Rebel XT, but asked if I had any of the packaging, cables, or anything else. I told them I did, but didn’t bring them with me as I wasn’t planning on having to replace the camera. So I ran home, got the box, cables, charger, and CD. I then went back to Best Buy and picked up my brand new Rebel XT.

He did inform me that the service plan was no longer valid for the new Camera and I’d have to buy a new one, to which I replied, of course. For $99 I’ll invest in a new camera two years from now!