'LENS ERROR' - Terminal?

[swee'pea99]

Got a cute wee Casio Exilim digital camera off ebay - very pleased with it till...

'LENS ERROR'

...it says, and that's it. Lens won't come out, nothing doing.

From googling it appears this is what happens if you let 'em even catch a glance of sand/grit ('did you take it on the beach? Yes I did.'), and it also seems there's precious little you can do about it. Just thought I'd post to see if anyone had any miracle cures. (Already tried removing battery and card for 24 hours, sucking with a hoover, banging it about - apparently this sometimes dislodges the offending crap.)

 

[Crackle]

An edge of a piece of card (business card) into the lens edge rotating parts and swept about might be worth a try. It's a recommended technique for DS screens when they stop responding to touch.

Might also be worth a compressed air blast.

 

[FazTheWookie]

Notorious problem with the Casios, I'm afraid. Managed to fix one for a while by using an electric toothbrush (with the brush head removed) as an poor-man's ultrasonic cleaner. Hold against the lens assembly and hope that it shakes the offending bit of grit or dust free.

 

[Melvil]

Notorious problem with the Casios, I'm afraid. Managed to fix one for a while by using an electric toothbrush (with the brush head removed) as an poor-man's ultrasonic cleaner. Hold against the lens assembly and hope that it shakes the offending bit of grit or dust free.

+1 - good plan, I think. It's not too hard it's not going to break anything, either.

 

[swee'pea99]

Thanks for suggestions - all tried, no joy. I thunk it's deid.

*sigh*

 

[meenaghman]

This happened with a NIK5700 I had.. years ago. It was one of first 5mp cameras and cost about 1200 quid when it came out. However there was also a known error with this device (internet google).. so it was still under warranty and I brought it back to the shop.. They said you gotta pay.. not covered..its been on the beach etc... I produced the known error. I then pointed to a sunset on a beach being used to advertise the camera in its brochure.. the POV definitely meant the camera was on the beach and asked how they took that photograph if it wasn't on the beach.. I managed to wangle the cost of the repair which they reckoned to being 200 pounds down to 50.