Digital Camera Repair: Top 4 Problems List

I recently wrote a brief article about the basics of digital camera repair, and received a nice comment on the post from a reader who also asked if I could write something more in-depth... and here we are!

But why is this a top 4 list and not a top 10 list like everybody loves so much? Answer: Because I am trying to give usable, honest information here about a subject that I actually know about. If this were a top 10 list there is no way I could give you any useable information, there wouldn't be enough time. Many people probably won't read my "book" below for that reason, it's too long. Que sera, sera.

We live in a throw-away society, it's a simple fact. You buy that brand new fancy digital camera with all the bells and whistles for $400, and in 6 months to 1 year it's worth maybe half that, and then the unthinkable happens: you drop it and it breaks. The LCD is cracked, or the lens is jammed; what do you do? You head back to the store with your poor little camera and the guy behind the counter (that knows nothing about cameras except for what's written on the box, and even less about camera repair) tells you it's not worth it to fix it and you should toss it in the trash. You feel ripped off and mad at the camera manufacturer and you toss it out and buy a new one made by somebody else.

There are alternatives, there are ALWAYS alternatives to every problem. Honest! Yes, it may cost $100 to fix your camera, and yes you can buy that camera in the bubble pack on the shelf at W**l M**t (they don't pay my bills... I don't advertise their name, sorry) for less than $100, but what kind of quality do you honestly expect from a $100 camera? Not very good quality I hope, because you're not going to get it.

Ok, get on with the list, right?

It was hard for me to choose what to put in #1 and #2, but I stuck with the broken digital camera LCD screen for #1 because it's so easy to break your LCD that you don't even have to touch the camera to do it!

The LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) is the view screen on the back of the camera that lets you see menus, playback pictures etc. The LCD is very thin, very fragile, and on many many cameras completely UNPROTECTED! Look at the back of your camera, is the screen recessed slightly or is the back of the camera flat and smooth? If it's flat you have a protective 'window' or 'glass' over the LCD to help prevent damage and breakage. If it's not flat, you have nothing protecting your LCD and should put a good quality LCD screen protector on the camera and NOT those thin, flimsy 'saran wrap' plastic film screen protectors, they are worthless.

- Don't leave your camera in your car in summer or winter. Extreme heat can cause expansion of the liquid in the LCD and cause it to 'crack', and on the other side of things extreme cold can cause it to freeze!
- Don't put anything up against the LCD in your camera bag, it will bang against the LCD and crack it (yes, even if it has a window over it, it will break!)
- Don't put your camera in your back pocket and then sit down!
- Don't put your camera in your front pocket and then roll over on it.
- ... Just don't put your camera in your pants pocket please. =)

Ok, so it's broken, what do you do now?
- The manufacturer will just site impact damage and will refuse the repair even if the camera wasn't dropped etc. You can try, and I wish you luck, but they probably won't fix it.
- Look for a defective camera on e***y (hey they don't pay me to advertise for them...) and make one good camera from the two if you are handy.
- Look for an actual camera repair business and not somebody that will send it to the manufacturer and tell you it's $200 and 4-6 weeks to repair. (IF they tell you this, they are NOT repairing your camera for you, they are sending it to the manufacturer, guaranteed)

Many LCD screens are very easy to install and you can do it yourself and all you need is a small screwdriver. Other LCD's are very difficult to install, and even professionals don't like to do them! I can't tell you Brand .... is the best and Brand ... is the worst, it's really not like that. Certain SERIES of cameras have 1 or 2 models that are difficult to work on, yet the rest of them are fairly straight forward. You need to decide for yourself if you want to open your camera and try the repair yourself or not.

How is an LCD replaced?
With most Canon digital camera LCD screens for example (using them as the example because they have the largest market share) all you do is disconnect the ribbon cable for the LCD and the backlight (the light that shines through the LCD and allows you to see what is on the screen) and then install the new LCD. Some come with the backlight attached, some do not. Some backlights need to be soldered to the mainboard of the camera, some do not.
- Be careful to not touch the flash capacitor contacts! You WILL zap yourself if you do, and it will HURT a bit. You will probably throw your camera across the room when it happens. (Yeah, I've done it, I've been repairing cameras for 5 years now so....) We have 'flash capacitor dischargers' and use them every time we open a camera.

Ok, digital camera lens repair is as common as LCD repair, but it's #2 on my list because it's harder to repair and there are so many different types of lens problems whereas a broken LCD is a broken LCD no matter how you look at it.

- Do not leave the batteries in your camera in the camera bag. The power button can be pressed accidentally causing the lens to extend and get jammed because it cannot open properly inside the bag.
- Try not to drop the camera with the lens extended.
- Don't ever pull or twist on a lens that is not working 100% properly, you will just break it.

I would have to write a book to fully explain lens problems fully (hmm.. maybe a good idea!) so I will try and keep it simple and informative.

The lens is made up of many different parts... Let's start with the several pieces of glass referred to as the lens elements.
The outer lens element is prone to being scratched and scuffed, and usually has a special coating on it that you DO NOT want to clean off with isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol), or Windex or something similar. It's not the end of the world, and don't worry about it if it's missing. Just keep the lens clean (why are there fingerprints on your lens anyway??) and scratch free.
The inner-most lens element is responsible for the fine focus and resides directly in front of the CCD. When you press the shutter button half way down to focus, this part moves forwards and backwards till it's in the correct position and your image is in focus. You won't be messing with this part of the lens... unless you feel like removing the lens from the camera and then tearing down the lens to get at it's 'guts'. It's kinda fun the first time, but uh... I wish you luck getting it back together properly. The tearing apart stuff is fun, the putting it back together is a drag!

The lens has two small motors with their own gears that connect to the two main parts of the lens. The larger motor drives the lens barrel in and out when zooming. The smaller motor drives the fine focus element mentioned above and controls the focus. If you get ONE GRAIN of sand in these gears, they will jam and the lens will "error out" as we like to say. Open it up and clean it out if you like, but it's not easy. Typically the main motor of the lens has 5-6 different gears that must be set and aligned properly to function. But hey, your lens is already jammed, why not see how it works, right?

Then there is the CCD, "charge-coupled device" which translates the light that enters the lens into a digital signal that the camera can record.
There was a very large CCD recall by Sony over the past few years that covers many manufacturers and not just Sony, as Sony provided the CCDs to many others for their cameras. The defective CCD's cause the camera to take solid black photos, or purple/pink "dripping paint" photos, or they have repeating white horizontal or verticle lines on the images. If your camera does this, call the manufacturer and tell them you want a repair under the CCD recall no matter how old your camera is! IF it's on the list, you might get your camera repaired for free.

Got spots on your images that get bigger and smaller as you zoom in and out? Most likely there is a spec of dust on your CCD. You will need to remove the lens and then remove the CCD from the back of the lens and clean it off. Don't lose the gasket that goes around the CCD, don't get any other dirt inside the lens and don't leave any fingerprints! Tall order I know, sorry, I'm demanding. =)

Let's see... what else? Your lens is part way out, stuck at an angle becuase the camera was dropped while turned on. Now please read that carefully; the lens must be stuck part way out or all the way out, and one section of the lens MUST be stuck at an angle. The lens must not move freely at all for this section to apply, and you may follow this advice AT YOUR OWN RISK. The following repair trick works, but I am not repsonsible for your actions or anything you do to your camera.

Ok, it's stuck at an angle. Hold the camera with the angled part of the lens resting against the edge of a table, and the rest of the camera hanging over the side. Do not place the camera facing down with the "Canon Zoom Lens..." chrome ring section flat on the table. The rounded edge of the lens must be what makes contact here. Now... here is the tricky part... press the angled part of the lens back into alignment by pushing down on the lens on the edge of the table. Put your fingers on the LENS below the angled part to support it and press firmly but still gently (how do I do that? I don't know.. you just do it) and the lens will either POP!! back into place and work perfectly or it won't budge and no harm will be done, -OR- one of the "guide pins" that run inside a small track in the lens barrel will break off and you have just destroyed the lens.
I told you it was at your own risk!! Camera repair is fun... right?

Ok, how are we feeling about lenses? I think we have covered most of the basic problems, shall we move on?

So your battery door broke off and is gone.
Your battery door has broken tabs on it and no longer holds closed tightly so the batteries don't make contact and the camera won't turn on.
Your battery door is removeable on your SLR so you can add on a grip with extra batteries... and where exactly did you put it down?
The tiny little piece of plastic on your CF (Compact Flash memory card) door broke off and your camera won't turn on!

Oh man... how many cameras out there will not turn on because your memory card door is open, or the battery door is open, even though there really seems to be no reason for it? It's frustrating... these flimsy little battery doors made from a tiny glob of plastic are ultra thin and snap like a dry twig, (Canon Powershot SD750 battery door.. don't get me started!) making your camera useless. What were they thinking when they designed this?? Did ANYBODY test this thing? Did anybody stop for one second and ask what the reason was behind it?

I could work for ANY major digital camera company and tell them exactly what is wrong with the design of any new camera they release and save them hundreds of thousands of dollars in warranty repairs and upset customers! Think they would hire me? No way; I don't have an Engineering Degree or a PHd is Physics so what do I know, right?

Well I know plenty having fixed THOUSANDS of cameras over the past 5+ years, I know what is wrong with your camera if it is a certain model before you even tell me.
Sony H2 or H5? Broken shutter button. Canon SD850? Jammed lens Canon SD750? Broken battery door... I'm not going to list dozens of cameras here, that's not what this is about.

What do you do with your camera when one small piece of plastic is broken or missing? You paid hundreds for it and once again the guy at the store tells you "Throw it in the trash, this one is better, it goes to 11." (A little movie humor there, hey it's 1:30am I'm entitled) Tell that guy at the store a resounding "NO!" and walk out. Go home, get on the computer and get surfing.

Back we go to e**y... search for your model number and "door" or "parts" and voila, look at what you find!
---> As a side note here (I'm kinda proud of this so bear with me) I was the first and only digital camera parts store in the world on e**y. I bought cameras by the 100's and repaired what I could and then parted out the rest. I sold all those annoying little parts that you cannot buy anywhere for dirt cheap! $10 for a battery door and all you do to install it is twist it into place... and that "geek" at the store told you it would be $175 to send it in to Canon or Sony and have them do it for you...

So you don't find your door or part there, keep looking, don't give up yet. Don't want to repair it yourself, no problem, there are places that will do it for you. Hopefully you will find one with decent prices; don't pay anyone $50 to install a battery door for you... please.
(Google: affordable digital camera repair... I hold 7 out of the 10 listings on Google page one!! But enough about me...)

Broken battery doors and memory card doors are very common. I think we would see a lot more customers asking for them if only they knew they could actually repair it and get their camera back working for less than $25-30! It really is that cheap, with many doors for only $15-20.

- I don't know what happened, it just stopped working and won't turn on.
- I dropped it, (I dropped it in water) and it won't turn on.
- My kids... (well, you know how that one ends)

Ok, so it won't power; doesn't mean it's a complete loss. If the camera blew the fuse then you can solder on a new fuse, you can remove the old fuse and bridge the connection leaving the camera without a fuse (not recommended) or you can replace the entire board that the fuse is on.

Fuses are normally just a few dollars, and if you can solder really well, you can probably replace it. Can't solder? Don't bother. Replacing the board isn't hard, but getting the board for a decent price is unless you go used and you never know what you're getting with a used board or lens, but it's better than nothing.

Exposure to liquid is a camera killer. I hate to say it, but if this is the issue with your camera, I would have to tell you that the camera is a goner. I want to help you repair it, but corrosion is bad, real bad. Water gets everywhere and causes damage to everything. It clouds up the backlight so your LCD screen has weird shadows on it, it fogs up the lens so you can't take pictures, it shorts out boards and flashes and is basically the nemesis of all things digital camera. Please do not get your camera wet. Thanks.

Argh! What did my kids do this time? The camera won't work anymore, what's wrong with it? Could be our friend the fuse again as above, or could be a "door indicator switch" that tells the camera to turn off when the door is opened. If the switch is damaged the camera will not turn on even when the door is closed.

You can check this by opening your battery door or memory card door and looking for the switch, it's not hard to see. On Canon Powershot SD series cameras there is one under the battery door beside the memory card slot. See it? Is it broken, jammed up, or totaly broken off? You can try "tricking" the camera into thinking the door is always closed by jamming down the switch, or bridging the connection with a drop of solder. If the camera is under warranty do not do this, try getting them to fix it... though they proabaly will not, and will just fall back on the old "physical damage" thing again. Can't fix the switch, have to replace the board, only real solution to the problem.

It's not corrosion, it's not the door switch, and it still won't turn on; so what's wrong? Honestly, it's difficult to say without $100,000 equipment that I just don't have. The lens can be defective for whatever reason and causing the camera to short out. There are certain models where a bad LCD will cause the camera to not power. Could be the flash, could be a screw touching the PCB or the frame inside the camera and is causing it to short... Electricity is weird and does weird things.

Right about now you are probably wondering if this book will ever come to an end. No, it won't, because there are so many different things that can and do go wrong with digital camera repair that there really isn't a way to list them all. Will my post ever end? Yes, it will thankfully enough.

I do hope that I have been able to shed some light on the mysterious subject of digital camera repair, and if I have helped you to fix your camera I would love to hear about it! I enjoy this business because I know how important a camera is to a person; you want to be able to record the events of your life and they only happen once. Once that time has come and gone you cannot get it back, but with a photograph you can be transported back to that place and time any time you choose. If I can help you with that... to be a small part of so many peoples lives in such an important way is an amazing thing and gives me a "warm fuzzy".

As always I thank you, dear reader, for your time and for allowing me to be part of your life.

Thomas Drayton,
Owner, Darntoothysam