feldy wrote:... just worried about the pace of change in our new [digital] age - just wondering: is this becoming a consideration for many others?
Are you also considering the D600/D800 upgrade?
I'm still using my first two DSLRs but considering that's a D3 and a D3s, that's hardly surprising.
My first camera was an Agfa Isolette (folding 120 camera) but my first SLR was a Pentax SV in about 1978. Then there was a Cosina which died, then I switched to Nikon and got five bodies (Nikkorex, two Nikkormats, two FEs, for loading with different films), also a Widelux, a 1937 Rollieflex and then two 5x4 cameras, an Arca-Swiss and a Nagaoka. I got bored with the chemical darkroom in 1991 and essentially gave up photography until I went on a trip to NZ in 2004. That's about 11 cameras in 14 years, or 0.79 cameras per year for my film period.
After returning from NZ in 2004, I discovered the digital darkroom and got interested in Photography again. In my dual digital/ film period from 2004 to 2007, I purchased a Panasonic FZ20 then an FZ50 while I bought a Gaoersi 6x17 as my "serious camera". That's 0.75 cameras per year.
Since I got the D3 in 2008 I have shot entirely digital. I picked up a D3s in 2009 for its improved low light sensitivity and I'm now about to pick up a D800 for a trip I'm planning for next year because I want to have the capacity to print very large, I believe I understand pretty well how to optimise image quality and it may be useful in cropping for wildlife. So that's also 0.75 cameras per year.
Therefore, I don't think my rate of purchasing cameras has increased due to the digital revolution. One thing that's changed is that I used to purchase cheap second hand and all my digital cameras were purchased new. I think that increasingly many people will start to purchase second-hand again because most people don't print large (say, A1) and current DSLRs already offer much more than most people need, marketing notwithstanding. Of course if the objective is not to create great images but to have the latest and flashiest equipment, then that's a different criterion. And also of course, choice in cameras and lenses is only a small part of a great image.
I'm expecting to get a D800 rather than a D600 because I want as much control as possible and don't care how complex that gets. I'm expecting to get a D800 rather than a D800E because you can sharpen D800 images more and then image quality, not much different to start with, is effectively the same.