By Brendan Loy

With our new baby due to arrive any day (hour?) now, it goes without saying that I want to have my photographic ducks in a row. There will, after all, be a lot of moments and memories to photograph in the immediate future. But alas, my digital cameras have picked today, of all days, to fall apart on me.

First and foremost, my Digital SLR camera, the Canon EOS Rebel XTi that I got for Christmas in 2007, has mysteriously started capturing only the top third, or thereabouts, of each photo. For instance:

I have no idea what could be causing this, or how to fix it. Needless to say, I’ll be Googling around this evening, and also looking up my warranty info.

Meanwhile, my “other” camera — the Canon PowerShot A95 that I keep in a small camera case on my belt at all times — has developed a crack in its plastic casing near the memory-card door:

I don’t know when or how this happened, though I’m guessing it may have something to do with a certain toddler who loves to grab my camera and say “KEEE!” (which, of course, means “CHEESE!”). Anyway, I just noticed it this evening, as I was using the PowerShot to take photos of the busted Rebel XTi. The camera is still functional, at least for now, but it’s difficult to close the door after inserting the memory card, and I fear that will only get worse with time.

Ugh.