what to do with my “broken” s95?

I have an s95 which was purchased winter of 2010-2011, so it is out of warranty. The zoom is stuck, which is not an unheard of experience. After reading into it, it most likely due to being in my pocket, and the lens trying to extend, which I do remember has happened to me in the past. I have tried different things, letting it sit, taking out the battery, and it would “reset” itself within a few hours or by the next day. This time, nothing worked. Took off the back cover and went a little into the inner workings, hoping that maybe I could see something to reset, but the zoom mechanism is buried and I no longer have that kind of time in my life with wife and two kids.

Went to photo tech repair in nyc, $150. Called canon service, $150. they also offered CLP as an alternative, but I have another powershot from the early 90s, which is my CLP camera if/when I need it.

I got it as a pocketable alternative to my t2i, used it for a while, and then not as much after getting the 5d. More recently I have been using it with chdk, mostly for time lapse, some scripts, and a few of the stills options. Most of the clicks have been for time lapse practice runs, to save of actuations on my rebel running magic lantern, and when I needed something physically smaller or image quality was not a priority.

I am trying to figure out what to do. I have 4 batteries (NB-6L) and a lensmate adapter which I would like to keep using.

Should I

1) pay 150, get my s95 back with 6 mth warranty. Not going to get a used one since I do not know its history. Refurbs are over 200 right now.

2) Get something else that uses the same battery. Seems like there are a lot of sd and ixus cameras out there. Maybe someone has a recommendation for something that might be more appropriate for my usage, pocketabilty not as much of a priorty now, but needing a manual (M) mode.

3) Forget/sell the batteries, since they are 3rd party, and get something different, that still can use chdk.

4) Something else

I am leaning to 1 for various reasons, but thought I should hear from the community.

Thanks in advance!

Maybe I should have got that mack warranty…

update:

After reading around some more, I ran into someone who mentioned they would slap their camera on their thigh to get it to reset. Just got home a little while ago. Took my camera and slapped it really hard against my thigh, lcd side facing skin. Turned it on and ta-dah, lens retracted. Turned it off and on 10 times, and not a single hitch.

woohoo! and a shout out to the random post I read during lunch.

Good luck with the fix, doesn't sound long lasting. Guy at work with his G9 has had to replace the lens mechanism twice, even after getting it to retract.

Ya, I have no expectation that this is a permanent fix and chdk still says I have a zoom lens error. Just happy that its working for now and hope it makes it through the weekend. Also gives me more time to look into its replacement.

Rumors are the replacement for the s100 is coming in a few weeks, wait and then pick up a s100 as prices fall. I love my s100......

Good luck with your fix....

As I learned the hard way after I back-ordered an s95 and got it early at full price.... these pocket cameras (even the high end ones like this) drop very drastically in price once used or when they are no longer the most recent model out...

Thanks guys. Its still working after the weekend and just going to wait and see what Canon releases and see what happens to prices of both the s95 and s100.