DIY Digital Camera Repair
Joseph Manchor gives hope to those of us who have run into problems with our digital cameras, which are increasingly becoming disposable. That is to say, it’s often more affordable to buy a newer version of a digicam rather than repairing the broken one!
Many people have unused digital cameras hidden from view in a drawer somewhere. Their only fault that for whatever reason, they stopped working. They may have been ineligible for warranty repair, and professional repair was usually found to cost more than the value of the camera. But most people don’t realize though that almost half of these hidden cameras can be easily and quickly repaired at home. Most repairs do not even require opening the camera’s case. All that’s required is a little patience, and background knowledge.
I collect Canon digital cameras. This could be an expensive hobby, except most of mine were previously broken and acquired at very little cost from ebay. To make this work, I had to become proficient at camera repair. But having no background or knowledge in this area, you guessed it, a blog was started camerarepair.blogspot.com. The hope was that camera repair hobbyists would contribute to the blog, thus enhancing my reader’s (and my own) knowledge in the subject to help fix an ever expanding inventory of broken cameras.
Unfortunately, it turned out that most repair experts were rather secretive on this subject, viewing it as trade secrets. But thanks to Google, was able to find little tidbits here and there. Whatever gems were found were collected and shared on the blog. Have focused the blog on dealing with the most common problems that might be experienced. Have also tried to focus on the simplest of fixes that would work for these problems, hopefully without requiring the reader to even open their camera’s case. Happily about half the readers have reported success with the fixes listed in the blog. Noticed that you have mentioned in previous videos that you have a few Canon’s yourself. If any of them are hidden from view (they were dropped, or just stopped working), stop by the blog. Who knows, you might get lucky with one of the listed fixes.
Thanks, Joseph – you’re a hero! I’m more than happy to pass your resource along to my friends.
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18 Comments
Revelations From An Unwashed Brain
July 6th, 2008
at 1:23am
Chris Pirillo What Other Free Software do I Need? Is White Noise the Right Noise? How do you Take and Organize Notes?DIY Digital Camera RepairKevin Carmony Questions and Answers
randy_nacol2002
July 4th, 2008
at 7:39pm
I’ve had a Canon that I use to take great pictures with. The Flash has been working on and off. I have been looking for a site that maybe could give information on my problem. I’ll check these guys out and see if they can help me.thx
guystran
July 4th, 2008
at 7:48pm
I have a couple digital cameras that untill now have sat in a drawer (lol sounds like the post) anyway Im gonna start looking on ebay for some cheap cameras to fix the ones I have here
warefly
July 4th, 2008
at 11:27pm
Cameras have never really been my thing. Except for a few times that we have actually own a digital camera, we have never had need to fix them. Whenever a camera is needed we will more than likely buy a cheap disposable one. As far as video go we do have an hd camcorder, but we never take the time to get it out and take a picture with it. I will be looking now into fixing some of the old cameras we do have however
JOSE
July 4th, 2008
at 11:47pm
thats true im gonna try that tomorrow
Zoomrix
July 4th, 2008
at 11:48pm
Hey thanks for this Chris. I recently took my camera to some Sand Dunes and this should probably help me out.
Andrew Hayes
July 4th, 2008
at 11:49pm
My sister recently got her camera fixed…what a hassle…4 weeks to and from and a $70 fee…ugh.
DUALD3ATH
July 4th, 2008
at 11:55pm
thats true im tring it
chrisw443
July 4th, 2008
at 11:58pm
Awesome advice, I need to tell my friend this so they can fix there broken camera.
Alex Miller
July 4th, 2008
at 11:59pm
I’ve tried to fix my cameras in the past, but every time I try I break them!
I’ve tried to use service manuals, but they confuse me!
JoeK
July 4th, 2008
at 11:59pm
Repairing cams to me is hard, as though valuable lenses are a shame to w3aste, i tried it before and i just shocked myself because i left it plugged in. :S I would just buy another cam
Andrew
July 5th, 2008
at 1:06am
This is marvellous. Brilliant. Will Share this.
xavier
September 11th, 2008
at 12:39am
how can I become a camera techinician ?
BruceG
November 23rd, 2008
at 1:25pm
Thanks Chris I think I could have fixed my camera but I never got my part(lcd). I ordered from LCD Technology(Joshua Mcvey) almost 2 months ago still nothing. He contacted me wanting proof of payment so I sent it and now he will not reply to my emails. Their free shipping sounds good but it is not worth anything if they rip you off!!!
Thomas D.
December 5th, 2008
at 8:46pm
Don’t throw out a defective digital camera! If you can’t fix it yourself you can sell it online for something at least or you can find somebody like ME who offers digital camera repairs at an AFFORDABLE price!
Thomas
http://www.darntoothysam.com
shaun evans
January 6th, 2009
at 4:22pm
joshua mcvey did the same thing to me. i ordered my screen like nov. 8th of last year, buy202 sucks, now they wont even return my emails. i am just out of $25. it pisses me off bad, but what can we do about it really??
Turkish Gold
January 7th, 2009
at 3:24pm
Hey! Thanks for hosting this blog! Much needed! I’ve got two broken digital cameras; both problems are lens-related. Have you had much luck in fixing lenses that will not retract? What has worked for you? I looked up on the internet what to do, a couple of websites state taking the batteries out and putting them back in… which seems pretty… obvious. They also recommend air dusting and prying the lens shut. Any other ideas?
George Conoly
March 1st, 2009
at 5:45pm
Hello.I have 4 Fuji cameras: Fine Pix S3000, S3100, and 2 other similar. Appears the on off switch has gone out on each. Can I buy a switch,or tech info,or can someone repair them for less than $55 each? The repair shops want $95 including shipping. I can prepay or maybe take them to an Atlanta or W.Va repair facility.
Thanks for any ideas. They are too good to throw away.