How we saved $300+ by taking apart a camera

Our Canon S3-IS is a great camera, but it’s developed a few quirks in the past couple of years, probably due to having small children occasionally play with it and a mom who throws it into her purse along with her sunglasses, keys, and other paraphernalia.  Ahem.

We were dealing with the quirks, but the lense suddenly stopped opening – completely.  It would turn out, and click-click-click like it was trying to open, but it couldn’t and the screen would show a “lens error”.  There was also a faint sound like something rattling around inside.

We didn’t want to take it to a repair shop, figuring it would probably cost more than the camera is worth at this point, and there would be no guarantee they could fix it.  So, on the verge of researching which camera to replace it with, I googled “Canon S3 lens error”, found this site, and tried every tip listed.

Once a camera is basically broken, you feel OK about banging it on a table.

When all of those tricks failed, Jeremy decided to take it apart.  We were pretty sure whatever was rattling around in there was causing the problem.

So, about an hour later, the camera was entirely dismantled and yes!  There was something inside – a loose screw?!  How on earth the screw came loose inside the camera, I have no idea, and we never figured out which hole it might have belonged to.

Jeremy put it back together and – praise the Lord – it worked!  Our camera was now minus a screw, and any warranty left on it was completely voided, but we saved at least $300 by taking it apart to find that screw!

Have you ever taken apart an electronic device in an effort to fix it? Did it work?! :)