flaccid
11th of August 2005 (Thu), 00:29
I was up in Chicago visiting my brother, and lacked a digital camera, as my Fuji FinePix digicam is an absolute hunk of junk and not worth using. He let me borrow his PS A60, and I absolutely fell in love with it. Even though it is only a 2MP camera, it takes fabulous pictures, has a lot of suprisingly advanced features for a non-SLR camera, and has crispy-beautiful optics. Here's a picture that I took from the roof of his condo building:
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b236/markatmattsflat/chicpic45.jpg
Pretty good for what essentially boils down to a snapshot camera, in my opinion.
When I got back home, I poked around on EBay, looking for a deal on an A60. I found an auction that closed, in my favor, for $27 USD. The description basically said that the camera still worked, but there was a problem with the "shutter" closing.
A few days after the auction ended and I paid up, I received the camera in the mail. I should preface this whole thing by saying that I am pretty good at fixing things without having prior training... computers, TV's, laptops, cars... whatever I can get my hands on, I can fix.
This would prove to be a task that I didn't get too far on. Here's the problem. The lens assembly is... for lack of a better term, crooked, and it never fully retracts, so the thing that they called the "shutter" is actually the lens protector not closing. When the camera is powered off, it looks like this:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/flat_line/ca45939e.jpg <-- profile shot, to show how far it sticks out
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/flat_line/d814f7ad.jpg <-- front shot to show the "crookedness" of the assembly end
When you zoom the optical zoom all the way out, the pictures are perfectly in focus, but when you go wide, the whole thing gets blurry.
I know that in every other way, the camera functions perfectly. The auction came with everything, and other than the lens problem, it is in absolute pristine condition. Not a single scratch on the thing.
My question is this: Is this worth messing around with, and if so, should I try to do it myself? I got three screws out and I felt a sense of impending doom, like the Camera Gods were frowning on my untrained attempt at digital camera repair. Needless to say, I put the three screws back in and started "Googling" for a Canon camera forum.
Any and every bit of feedback would be very, very appreciated.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b236/markatmattsflat/chicpic45.jpg
Pretty good for what essentially boils down to a snapshot camera, in my opinion.
When I got back home, I poked around on EBay, looking for a deal on an A60. I found an auction that closed, in my favor, for $27 USD. The description basically said that the camera still worked, but there was a problem with the "shutter" closing.
A few days after the auction ended and I paid up, I received the camera in the mail. I should preface this whole thing by saying that I am pretty good at fixing things without having prior training... computers, TV's, laptops, cars... whatever I can get my hands on, I can fix.
This would prove to be a task that I didn't get too far on. Here's the problem. The lens assembly is... for lack of a better term, crooked, and it never fully retracts, so the thing that they called the "shutter" is actually the lens protector not closing. When the camera is powered off, it looks like this:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/flat_line/ca45939e.jpg <-- profile shot, to show how far it sticks out
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/flat_line/d814f7ad.jpg <-- front shot to show the "crookedness" of the assembly end
When you zoom the optical zoom all the way out, the pictures are perfectly in focus, but when you go wide, the whole thing gets blurry.
I know that in every other way, the camera functions perfectly. The auction came with everything, and other than the lens problem, it is in absolute pristine condition. Not a single scratch on the thing.
My question is this: Is this worth messing around with, and if so, should I try to do it myself? I got three screws out and I felt a sense of impending doom, like the Camera Gods were frowning on my untrained attempt at digital camera repair. Needless to say, I put the three screws back in and started "Googling" for a Canon camera forum.
Any and every bit of feedback would be very, very appreciated.