Thursday, March 06, 2008

Cannon SD1000 - Lens Error, Restart the camera

My cannon SD1000 died on me while taking pics of my new born baby. It kept saying "Lens Error, Restart the Camera". In the hospital, I could not concentrate or do any trial n error on the camera.

Back home now... I did the following and it worked

Removed the battery, recharged the same. Inserted the charged batter and very gently moved lens sideways couple of times. The lens immediately went in and I restarted the camera. Everything is back to normal.

I have clicked some more photos and it is working fine.

Not sure if this will work for everyone....no harm in sharing some tip

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Before considering this camera do a google search on: Canon sd1000 lens error

19,500 results

Here's my story:

After 3 months I got the dreaded Cannon SD1000 lens error. We took pictures of a beach and unfortunately left the picture card in the camera when sending it under warranty. This gave Canon the "sand in camera" excuse.

A few days after sending it in for warranty repair, I got an email from canon saying the camera had sand in the battery compartment and they would not cover it under warranty. They said the camera was full of sand and wanted $98 to fix it (best buy is selling it new for $150).

Before sending it in I read about this problem and used compressed air in the battery compartment and around the lens to make sure it was 100% clean, so I know there was no sand in the battery compartment. We only took some beach shots and did not drop the camera in the sand or anything like that.

The service tech I spoke to said the notes said sand poured out of the battery compartment. I know for a fact that the battery compartment was clean. He said he did not know that the lens error issue was a very common problem with this camera (yeah right)

I asked them to send it back unrepaired. I will never buy a Cannon product again. Do not buy the Canon Power Shot SD1000 as it has a major flaw and they do not want to cover their warranty obligations.

Anonymous said...

I own many PowerShot's and I've had this issue on two of them now. There's a company that specializes in these and their prices are amazing, their service is beyond anything I've experienced anywhere. They totally serviced up my SD1000 and that included installing a Brand New Canon lens unit. They charge $69 total and that even covers the return shipping. Go check them out and read all of their feedback, these guys are the best for these PowerShot's, read their feedback, that says it all. Here's the link to get your SD1000 looked after:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Canon-SD1000-Digital-Camera-LENS-ERROR-REPAIR-SERVICE_W0QQitemZ260421701174QQihZ016QQcategoryZ64352QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


If you have a different model or that link doesn't work, try this one:

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZcanon_expertsQQhtZ-1

Canon won't cover these lens errors and they quoted me over $150.00 to fix mine. These guys charged me a flat $69 for everything and they installed a Brand New lens and serviced the whole camera up, I don't know how it can get better than that. Just read all of their feedback, it's amazing and they earn it, these guys are fantastic. good luck

Camera Repair said...

Actually, after reading John's comment I had to reply. Lens errors are the most common failure mode for ALL digital cameras with telescopic lens barrels. A single grain of sand can jam the mechanism. That's why you should extra care at the beach. Even blowing sand can be a problem.

Other causes for lens errors include the camera's been dropped with the lens extended. Or the camera has been powered on, but the lens had been blocked preventing its extension. Or the battery ran down with the lens extended ...

But through it all, there actually are some things that you can do to try to correct a lens error. They only seem to work for less than 50% of the lens errors, but if the camera is out of warranty, they are worth a try. Not sure if the following link will work, or even if arvin will allow this, but here's some tips on self repairing a lens error.

Jeff D said...

well tomarow i am moving to ghana for a year a i really need help getting this camera to work! i have tried the pushing in the lenses trick, the forcing the lens gently, banging on the table, recharging the battery, pressing the picture button and poer buton at the same time, and more! but nothing has worked :(