Neil Armstrong

Do It Yourself Camera Repair for the Untrained Person



Posted: Saturday, October 18, 2008

by
Armstrong Marketing

Hello, I have been taking a Camera Repair Course for the past 2 years. I am in no way a qualified camera technician. I am however familiar with the insides of most cameras.

If your planning on taking off the covers on your flash camera, don't do it. You know the 1.5 volt batteries you insert. Well this battery voltage is induced to charge the flash capacitor with 300 volts. It is stored there until the flash is used. There is 300 volts present in that camera as long as there are batteries in it. Even when the batteries are gone, the camera is designed to hold the flash charge for several days, or weeks or months, I know from experience. I took of the cover off of a pocket digital camera and got zapped. Most uncomfortable. Guess what happens when you press the button and the flash fires? The 300 volts is further induced to 2000 volts, but it only lasts an instant.

So if you drop your camera, keep it turned off. The impact damage on one corner of the camera can look perfectly fine on the outside when the inside opposite corner has been destroyed.

Many times if the camera gets dropped on the lens, the impact can do several things. One problem is that the lens body is pushed right into the camera mount. Now the body is not straight, and will forever be out of focus.

If the camera gets wet, never turn it on. The recovery chance of a wet camera is very low, and if it gets turned on makes this possibility become an certain impossibility.

regards,

Neil

Neil Armstrong lives in beautiful Edmonton, Alberta with his 2 teenagers. He is a 2nd. Class Power Engineer working in a Control Center here in Edmonton. His interests are camera repair, electronics, computers and Marketing.

This Article has been viewed 1,218 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)
» left by Walter Rhett
 3 years 108 days ago.
40 fans.
This is really great advice, and the personal example "zaps"m the point home!
 
Thanks!
» left by Sandra E. Graham
 3 years 108 days ago.
247 fans.
Interesting article, Neil. Well-written and full of some helpful hints on what not to do with your camera. Thanks for sharing and
 
Welcome to SearchWarp.
 
Sandra
» left by Nava
from Edmonton 2 years 322 days ago.
I have a sony cybershot 5.0, the lens does not come open, when the camera is switched on. Can you repair this... I was about to open this.
By the way, I am in Edmonton too.. Will appreciate your reply
Nava
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