MacBook Air works great for me, but I’ve been using Apple computers since the mid-80s and I’m very comfortable with them.

MacBook Air, 16GB memory, 1 TB storage. I move work to a outboard HD from time to time. Works just fine.

I shared the prejudice against Japanese products (probably learned from my father, who was at Pearl Harbor) until I bought my first Nikon. Now, several of my fantastic Leica lenses are made in Japan. Hard to imagine better glass.

“Real” camera or cell phone?

I recently bought a ProMaster Scout for less than $100. Really solid, although it’s a bit longer than your requirements.

A light haze fell over the moon just before the peak eclipse this morning.

Here’s my free advice, speaking as a retired lawyer. Write your letter on paper. Describe in detail the problems you’ve had and all of your attempts to solve them. Write clearly and concisely, including all dates and amounts you’ve paid. A nice, tight chronology is great. Be sure you have the supporting documents.

Your conclusion should be that you want them to replace the obviously defective camera body and to refund the money you’ve paid in pointless repair bills. Give them a deadline to respond.

Take your addressed letter in an unsealed envelope to the post office and tell the agent you want to send it “certified mail return receipt requested.” You’ll be given a couple of items to fill out. One is a slip with a serial number on it. Copy that number onto your letter and seal the envelope. (That will allow you to prove receipt of the letter later on if need be.) The agent will attach the numbered slip to an edge of your letter and attach a postpaid green “return card” that you address to yourself to the back. Be sure to put the serial number on the green card to link the letter with the green card and the green-and-white slip.

It’ll cost you a couple of bucks, but once you’ve received the green card you will be able to prove Canon got your letter and has “actual notice” of your complaint in case you have to go to the next step. You’ll also be signaling to Canon that you are prepared to go to take that next step.

If Canon fails to respond or to provide you a new body by your deadline, then you can ratchet it up a notch. All states have consumer protection statutes that permit the recovery of reasonable attorneys fees in successful cases where consumers can prove they have been defrauded (said they fixed a problem and didn’t). You’d be surprised how a letter from a lawyer threatening a consumer-protection case can focus the minds of most business executives: A free or low-cost resolution to a consumer complaint can easily become thousands in liabilities. The smart move, in almost every case, is to fix the problem.

Consumers have a lot of power. There’s no reason to tolerate unacceptable products or services.

https://tenthousandwaves.com/

I think I'd be trying to get myself on one of them.

That's a beautiful photograph. Thanks for explaining how you planned it and the exposure information. We're headed to our cabin in NM in a couple of weeks for the summer, and I am going to try some Milky Way photography of my own. Thanks so much.

I’ll jump on the B&H bandwagon to say I’ve been doing business there for more than 40 years without any issues at all.

I bought my new camera through an on-line store that I have shopped at since 1975. Never a problem in all that time.