A640 - is it fixable?

[leonardml]

I have a Canon A640 I've owned a few years that has worked without problems and I love the ease of use of the camera. I use it in an U/W case and take it diving often. It's happened rarely in the past, but now it seems every time I use it on the auto U/W setting, once I'm into my dive, the camera locks onto a setting of its choosing and won't let me change or adjust it. Instead of being able to switch to macro and depress the shutter halfway to focus, for an unknown reason to me, the camera determines a setting and I'm stuck with out. I've found that by turning it off and waiting approx 5 mins, it will allow me to go back and use the u/w setting and choose my own depth and focus. But again, after a shot or two, it locks up again on a specific setting. I made an overseas dive trip and it did it consistently enough to mess up nearly all the pix I took. I can't describe how frustrating this is and the opportunities lost. I made two dives yesterday and nearly the entire use was forced by the camera. I have no idea what I may have done. What the chances of the camera being serviced? Where do I take it and what do I tell them?

I have no doubt it could use an overall servicing, but am afraid of sending it off, the camera's gone for weeks or even months, they dust and clean it, send it back and the next time I'm U/W, the issue still happens. :rolleyes:

Thanks in advance for any and all guidance.
Mickey

[Jon]

Does it behave that way out of the housing, on the surface but with the Underwater setting on? If you can duplicate it on the surface and without the housing it'll be easier for a repair service to duplicate. Canon USA (you don't say where you are - there's a spot in your User CP where you can put a location) is very prompt on repairs from all I've seen. Other places may vary.

[MrChad]

I have a Canon A640 I've owned a few years that has worked without problems and I love the ease of use of the camera. I use it in an U/W case and take it diving often. It's happened rarely in the past, but now it seems every time I use it on the auto U/W setting, once I'm into my dive, the camera locks onto a setting of its choosing and won't let me change or adjust it. Instead of being able to switch to macro and depress the shutter halfway to focus, for an unknown reason to me, the camera determines a setting and I'm stuck with out. I've found that by turning it off and waiting approx 5 mins, it will allow me to go back and use the u/w setting and choose my own depth and focus. But again, after a shot or two, it locks up again on a specific setting. I made an overseas dive trip and it did it consistently enough to mess up nearly all the pix I took. I can't describe how frustrating this is and the opportunities lost. I made two dives yesterday and nearly the entire use was forced by the camera. I have no idea what I may have done. What the chances of the camera being serviced? Where do I take it and what do I tell them?

I have no doubt it could use an overall servicing, but am afraid of sending it off, the camera's gone for weeks or even months, they dust and clean it, send it back and the next time I'm U/W, the issue still happens. :rolleyes:

Thanks in advance for any and all guidance.
Mickey

The U.S. Canon service center for all compacts is located in the Chicago suburbs. I have personally taken my PowerShot A650 IS into them for servicing via walk-in.

You may wish to call Canon direct and see about sending your camera to Illinois for repair with a letter describing the current issue and how they can reproduce it.