after I received my wet cleaning kit it happened that it scratched my sensor or in other words I can throw my camera now away.

life sucks :(

Now I try to figure out what my options are.

1. I send the camera in to get it fixed and pay 300$ for it
2. i send the camera in and get it converted to IR which includes a new filter (which replace the scratched) and it cost 300$ + I need a new camera
3. I buy a nikon D80 which cost 900$ - need to save money a month
4. I buy a nikon D200 which cost 1500$ - need to save money 3 month

for the moment I wait till the new Nikon products are released and decide than what I gonna do, but it truly sucks. It also makes no sense to buy a used D50 which cost 500$ and the Nikon D80 is better, but i would prefer the D200 which is a truly better than the D50.

time to save money...

the big question is can I justify spending 1500$ for a camera body. And the D80 just is missing a couple of features i really want to have. For example the 5fps or that you can set everything with a button on the camera instead of browsing the menus.

So basically what is different:

- 5fps vs 3fps
- weather sealed vs non sealed
- metal vs plastic body
- can meter with all lenses instead only with newer AF lenses
- d200 has no problems with metering vs the buggy matrix meter of the D80
- D80 feels wrong in my hands and needs battery grip to feel right

But for the 1500$ instead of 900$ I could also get my D50 converted, which would allow me than to shoot infrared and a nice lens. I also could afford the D80 in august/september compared to the D200 which I could not afford before Christmas. And I would hate to have a vacation and having no camera...

So most likely I do the smart thing and get a D80 or the new model which is supposed to be released next week. And send the D50 in to get converted to RI and use it in this mode or sell it over ebay. Maybe I can recover 200$...