Surely there is a 12 warranty on cameras.

I could have done with a DSLR at the Beaufort Polo - and a tripod! It was raining, windy and not warm. I sat in the stand balancing a large umbrella with my left arm, and holding my Fuji HS10 with Raynox Telephoto Lens converter in my right - not easy!!

The trouble with buying a camera these days from a shop is that the sales men (and women) are under pressure to sell maintenance contracts, and too often they are from the "ipod know-nothing generation".

My father had a decent Cannon SLR film camera when he was alive, and never bothered with a repair contract. On the occasions when a repair was necessary, he simply took it to a Cannon repair centre, which I think was somewhere along the North Circular Road near Hangar Lane, and always received exemplary service (remember that?).