Powershot A70 E18 error

[mcshepherd]

Hello

I have a problem.

I recieved my brand new A70 this morning, I put the battery and CF card in and turned it on. The lens extended and then ground to a halt, the A70 kept beeping and an E18 error came up on a black screen. After replacing the batteries and removing the CF card several times nothing has happened, the lens is still extended and I am unable to get any further.

Any suggestions or will I have to send it back?

[juno]

better send it back.

[jamez]

same broblem here!!!
i just put it back to canon service.

[Cousin Avi]

There seem to be a LOT of E-18 errors around the world !

On this German forum people are very disappointed by the poor quality and customer service from Canon : http://www.a40-forum.de/wbb/thread.php?threadid=2229&boardid=19&styleid=1&sid=20310b734ade415e7622a919afa66be2

Here is one more sad story : http://www.bitnet.cx/canon.html

And here is a Dutch site with the same E18 problem : http://forum.fok.nl/showtopic.php/333806/1/1000

I´m in the market for a digital camera, but I don´t think it will be a Canon Powershot A70 for €350,- !

It´s clearly a production fault, but Canon does not seem to accept the responsibility for this.

Here is a sollution if your camera is out of warranty : http://www.camerareview.com/templates/digital_reviews.cfm?digital_id=87

I opened just the front cover at first. The underlying plastic film can be removed then. The next part is to remove all the connecters on the circuit board. Some of them are jammed, the other ones are just put on. Remove the circuit board now and you will have some space to get to the lens-mechanism. There is a small cog-wheel that you can see now clearly. What you need next is air pressure. I bought an aerosol can with air pressure in it because this air is free of oil. Use the air now to clean all the parts around the lens-mechanism and the cog-wheel. Reassemble the camera again and try it out. In my case, a small piece of dust (seemed like some kind of rubber) came out of the lens mechanism. Since then, my camera works again perfectly