I am awesome. I just wanted to put it out there. I think the world needs to know.

I am awesome because today I spent 2 hours and resurrected what I had previously thought to be a heaping pile of technological junk.

It’s kinda funny because I had given up on trying to fix my camera and was looking around online for a new camera. I loved this camera – a Canon IXY Digital 400, which is a Japanese version of a Canon Digital Elph 400 – so I figured I’d just get another Canon Elph series camera when I came across some consumer reviews talking about an infamous E18 error which is what my camera was giving me. Basically the compartment that opens and closes the lens by extending it out and retracting it back in was jammed and so the camera wouldn’t turn on. In my case the lens was sticking out just a little. After reading sites online that talked about people taking the camera apart and fixing it gave me new hope in trying to bring it back to life.

And so I did.

A surgeon needs tools. Here are the tools I used:

1. A mini-screwdriver for the tiny screws.
2. A white sheet of paper.
3. A mechanical pencil.
4. A roll of clear, double-sided tape.
5. A video camera.

The first one is obvious. The next 3 were to draw out a diagram of where all the screws belonged and to stick the screws to the diagram. The video camera was to film myself take it apart because I’m a geek. Well kinda but more so that I could go back in time to watch myself take it apart so I’d know how to put it back together in case I forgot. Turns out I remembered everything so I didn’t need the video for that reason but now it’ll be cool to watch it anyway.

I basically just took out every screw I could find and kept dismantling it more and more not exactly quite sure how I was going to fix it. After taking apart over 30 screws, half a dozen cables and some wires later, there was 1 screw remaining that held together half the body of the camera along with the lens compartment – the broken piece – and I couldn’t get it out. I ended up totally stripping the head and so it was a lost cause. I was hoping to totally disassemble the lens compartment but now that wasn’t really an option.

I took off any screw that I could see that were part of the lens compartment and kinda loosened some of it. Didn’t quite open up completely but with a little bit of luck and a lot of brute force I somehow managed to snap the lens casing back into place and I presume the gears inside kinda just went back into their proper spots.

Being eager to get it over with I reassembled the whole camera again and tested it out…and it worked!

So today I just saved myself a good 400-500 bucks by not having to buy a new camera and accessories.

Not quite sure how much longer this thing will last but for now it will keep collecting memories one picture at a time.

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