Here’s something new for a change. About two years ago, I bought a Canon SD870 as a Christmas gift. A year later, that same Canon SD870 was plagued with the infamous Canon “Lens Error” as the camera lens failed to retract/extend properly and prevented the camera from starting up and taking pictures.
I had replaced the broken SD870 with a newer SD980 recently, but for reasons unknown, the image quality on the SD980 just doesn’t quite match the SD870′s image quality. Comparing pictures from both cameras, the newer SD 980′s 12.1MP sensor produced consistently noisier pictures compared to the SD870′s 8.0MP sensor.
So this week, I decided to order a new lens assembly for the SD870 to breathe new life into the retired camera. And what you see below is a photo documentary of tedious repair.
Disassembly - Front
Disassembly - Back
Dis-assembly of the front and back plates were fairly straight forward, a couple of screws (6 or so) hold the entire external case together. Once opened, you can really see how tightly all of the components are packed together inside.
Disassembly - Complete
Next, the LCD came off, along with the top control plate, flash unit, and finally the lens assembly.
Broken Lens Assembly
As many other users have reported online, usually the lens on these Canon point-and-shoot cameras become stuck as bits of debris fall into the lens motor/gears. However unfortunately for me, one of the sections of the lens assembly jumped off of its “track” and I was unable to fix the problem. Well actually I did try, but I failed miserably. Much cussing ensued.
Replacement Lens Assembly
So in comes eBay to save the day with a new replacement lens assembly! This damn thing ended up costing me $35, but I guess that’s still better than paying Canon $130 for the repairs.
Reasesmbled and Fixed - Front
Reassembled and Fixed - Back
After the new lens assembly was installed, the rest of the camera parts were re-assembled, and SUCCESS! The camera came right back to life and I ran the SD870 through a series of tests to make sure everything was in order.
Whoops
Whoops, where did these parts come from? I guess my fix-it project wouldn’t be complete if there weren’t any unaccounted screws/parts at the end of the journey. So two screws and a small metal plate thing are missing from the camera… somewhere. Oh well. I consider this as mission accomplished!