Canon S100 shuts off immediately

I've had my S100 for a couple years now, used it sporadically and have always been really happy with in... until a few months ago. When I charged my battery (the original one that came w/ the camera) the camera would just die, or maybe take 2-3 pictures then die.

I thought maybe the battery had finally had it, and bought 2 new ones (Maxells). Unfortunately, the camera responded the same way to these. I borrowed a friend's battery charger to see if maybe it was my charger that was defective. Nope, his charger produced the same results. Finally, I sent it to Canon, paid something like $150 USD, and after about 6 weeks got back the camera in the same condition I had sent it -- all my batteries die in 3 shots.

After receiving the "repair" back from Canon, my next test was to try my 3 batteries in my friends S200 -- could the malfunctioning camera have zapped my batteries dead? Nope, they worked in his camera. So I sent my camera back to Canon. They "fixed" it faster the second time, but I have received it back now and it's just as bad as ever.

So what am I to do? I've spent $100 USD on new batteries and $150 USD on repairs to revive this camera, with no luck... I could have bought a brand new camera with that money. Has anybody heard of such problems before, or have any suggestions? I hate to give up on Canon, because I otherwise have liked this camera so much. But I'm quite frustrated and really want a working camera.

-Jim

You will probably think this is silly, but have you checked the contacts in the battery compartment? If one got bent it could cause a bad connection.

I bought my s100 off eBay a year ago, and at that time I also purchased two digi-power brand batteries for it. About two months ago I began to notice the same thing you described. One of the batteries will only take one picture after being fully charged. I just bought an S400 last Friday, and I grabbed one of the old batteries to test the new camera while I was charging the new battery. This was a discharged battery that won't even power the S100 up for more than a few seconds, and it took about ten pictures in the S400. It probably could have gone longer but I turned the camera off after a few test shots. I had assumed it was the batteries that were bad, but now I'm not so sure. I'll have to run further tests and post the results here. It may take a while though, the new Canon battery lasts and lasts in the S400. I took well over 100 shots, reviewed some of them, and shot and reviewed one twenty second movie before the battery died. So far I'm quite happy with my new toy.

Thanks for the suggestion, but they look okay to me. Besides which, you would think that Canon would have fixed that themselves.

Canon (as any company) wants to keep you as a customer. Speak to or email someone high up (manager of repairs or higher) at Canon.

Ask nicely if they will look after your camera. Twice they have tried to resolve your problem, and yet it still exists. Give them lots of details (how old the camera is, sets of batteries tried, how many minutes/hours since first photo does the camera die out.) Ask for advice on what to do.

If they don't offer to help you to your satisfaction, go higher. You should find someone willing to help you resolve this matter.

I have the S100 and have the same problem. The camera just refueses to work for more than a few shots reguardles of the battery used.

Anyone find a solution yet?

Hi, I have the exact same problem with my Elph S100 battery, it shuts down and says "Change battery" in red. I have researched this (way too much time wasted).... Batteries are fine, charger is fine, contacts are fine, it's in the camera. Been researching and found a post about a German site devoted to the S100 that says it's an "internal voltage circuit" that degrades over time. I too have wasted about $100 on extra batteries (cheap ebay batteries, Maxell, Canon OEM, it makes no difference). I used to love this camera. And I babied it. It's a shame that such a great little camera can't be fixed for a reasonable price. Cheaper to buy a new one (but for me, not Canon again). One not so nice workaround if you must use the camera is to turn it on and immediately shut off the display (while in picture taking mode), use the viewfinder, and I you can take a few photos.