Ohhhh, probably a few weeks. If you are lucky maybe a month.

Understandable. But it's the same as for any electronics. Or even a new
car: the moment you drive it off the dealers lot, it lost 30%.

The one has nothing to do with the other.

Evaluate what features you expect from a camera, and how it feels in
your hands. Then buy the camera that works best for you. As long as your
needs don't change that camera will serve you for years to come.
I am still using my 7+ years old Coolpix880 and it takes pictures as
good as on its first day. My needs did evolve, therefore I bought a D80
eventually, but that doesn't mean at all that the Coolpix is dumped.
If on the other hand you are looking for the latest and greates gadget,
then maybe you want to reconsider spending hard earned money on that
because you would have to upgrade within a few months.

jue

About 8 seconds after you bought it.

However, that says exactly nothing about how long it is usable.

You are the hard earned cash for the camera?
(Did you mean "it is"?)

I want to buy a car.  Should I buy a Formula 1 racecar or an
econobox that's just about to be phased out?

Wouldn't you say that sort-of depends on the budget and what
you want to do with the car, aeh, camera?

-Wolfgang

Don't worry about the cost - you will save so much money on film,
developing and printing that the cost of a camera body will simply
disappear.  Expect to get three to four years out of it, if you use it a
lot.  Choose your lenses first, then get the camera that goes with them!

DSLRs generally get remodeled every 18 to 36 months.

But, the good news is that it often takes several new models before anything
important changes.  The issue is if the latest model will do something
important that cannot be done with the model you own.

IF you are a type of person who must own the very latest model camera
and want to be the one person on the block that can outdo your
neighbor then expect to change cameras every year, at least.
Decide in advance why you are buying the camera and what you intend to
do with it seek the model that has the feature that meet your personal
needs. Decide in advance how many years you might enjoy using it
before trading again. That way you will have a better idea of your
expectations. In general, as an investment consideration stick with
Nikon or Canon for lens interchangeability- so when you eventually
change camera bodies you can keep your lens investment. Also avoid the
bottom of the line
model- just as you wouldn't buy the very cheapest food.

Digital cameras never become outdated.  Barring a need for repair,
they will do exactly what you bought them for over a very long period
of time.  The digital "film" you put in them will be available for
many years to come, and you will be able to buy lenses and most
accessories for virtually any camera for many years.  Even if a vendor
goes out of business, as Konica Minolta has, their cameras aren't
outdated because lenses, accessories, and memory cards continue to be
available.

Now, in terms of how long your camera will remain "this year's model,"
that's more difficult to say.  Even automobiles don't stick to
conventional model years anymore (the 2009 Corolla is now available in
April, 2008) and digital cameras don't often stick to the 12-18 month
cycle.

For example, the Nikon D40 was introduced November 16, 2006.  Less
than four *months* later, it was "replaced* (some would say
"supplemented") by the D40x.  Whether it was a true replacement or
not, there were many D40 owners who felt like they now owned last
year's model only a couple months after they purchased their cameras.
The D40x owners had "outdated" cameras a mere 10 months later when the
D60 was introduced.

You can find similar short cycles among most camera brands.  But,
in many cases, when a new camera is introduced to "replace" the one
you have, it's very, very difficult to tell the difference between
pictures taken with one camera or the other, unless the new model has
a feature that you absolutely must have.

But, if you worry much about your camera becoming outdated, you're
going to worry a lot, because the cycles are impossible to predict.
One way to ease the pain is to find a new use for an old camera after
you upgrade, thus extending the useful life of the old camera.  I
converted my Nikon D70 to infrared photography, and use it happily
today.  My old D2x doesn't do some of the things my newer cameras do,
so I leave it in the studio all the time, where it excels.  My Nikon
D40 has been enjoying a second life in the hands of my wife and
daughter since I replaced it with a D60 as my super-compact
walk-around camera.

You can buy a "Top end" camera that has just come out, and enjoy some
newer features like Live View, and have fun being on the cutting edge
for a few months.  Or you can buy the camera that was replaced at
great savings.   A Nikon D200 can be had for half the price of a D300,
and will do the same job most of the time.

Excuse all the Nikon examples.  Most of this applies to Canon and
other vendors as well.  Nikon has had a flurry of new camera
introductions in the past six months or so that make them especially
germane to your outdated/obsolescence concerns.

Dave

-------------------------------------
Everything I know, and then some:
http://www.auctionmyths.com