Jammed camera lens

msh1283

Alright, I'm a dumbass. Knocked my Canon SD600 off the desk while it was on. Lens is stick about halfway out. When I try to power on, the motor that moves the lens is trying to work, but gets stuck and the camera says "Lens error. Please restart camera". Any thoughts on how to get it back on track?

YourFatAuntSusan

msh1283 wrote: »

Alright, I'm a dumbass. Knocked my Canon SD600 off the desk while it was on. Lens is stick about halfway out. When I try to power on, the motor that moves the lens is trying to work, but gets stuck and the camera says "Lens error. Please restart camera". Any thoughts on how to get it back on track?

Unfortunately, a zoom lens is a pretty delicate piece of machinery that is easily susceptible to damage when the lens takes the brunt of a fall. Chances are your only option to guarantee it'll work is get it repaired by the manufacturer, but that will cost you.

If you're handy, you could always disassemble the camera just to see. You're warranty is void so it's worth a try. 8-)

Pheezer

You're not going to be able to fix this yourself. Look for a local camera repair shop, ideally one that's authorized to do Canon repairs. If they don't need any parts, you'll just be paying for labour and it'll probably be under a hundred bucks.

Mmmm... Cocks...

I was taking pictures of some friends with one of their cameras at a party once. And it got the same error. I almost shit myself, as I was drunk and thought I broke it. She however said it wasn't a big deal and from what I could tell she she just reset it a couple times and it seemed to work. I'll see if I can track her down, ask her. But honestly, probably best bet is to take it in. Could just totally break soon enough.

msh1283

I fixed it! How? You may ask. Well, in a last ditch effort before pulling the trigger on a new one, I gripped the camera between my palms. With great concentration and furious brawn, I squeezed as hard as I could. Lo and behold! After a terrifying whirring sound, the lens clicked back into the body and powered on. Pictures appear to be normal. I think everything may be fine!

ProPatriaMori

How did "squeeze as hard as I can" occur to you as a remedy to your situation?

Gihgehls

I had an older canon that did the same thing. If I power on the camera the lens comes out half-way, goes back in, and the screen says E18 Error. If I hit the camera against my palm (like packing down cigarettes) while it is turning on, the lens will come out all the way.

If I switch the camera to "play" instead of "shoot" and THEN turn it on, the lens comes out fine.

So while hitting and squeezing cameras sounds like a bad idea, sometimes these Canons just need a little bit of "percussive maintenance." I'm guessing that squeezing it bent the case just enough so that the lens didn't bind on the inside.

msh1283

ProPatriaMori wrote: »

How did "squeeze as hard as I can" occur to you as a remedy to your situation?

Because I had already taken it apart, couldn't fix it. And it would have been about $125 to get it repaired. A new one is about $150.

xa52

msh1283 wrote: »

I fixed it! How? You may ask. Well, in a last ditch effort before pulling the trigger on a new one, I gripped the camera between my palms. With great concentration and furious brawn, I squeezed as hard as I could. Lo and behold! After a terrifying whirring sound, the lens clicked back into the body and powered on. Pictures appear to be normal. I think everything may be fine!

Did you play the Popeye theme as you did this?


Would be a useful contribution if it wasn't too late:
When disassembling a camera, please try not to kill yourself on the capacitor that powers the flash.