Broken digital camera question

My first guess would be damage to the image sensor CCD.

John

Or maybe the optics and/or iris have been knocked out of place.

What it looks like is that the RGB components have not been de-interleaved. What would cause that is something I don't have an answer to.

From going by experience, it looks like damage to the imager (CCD unit).

This is not something you can fix yourself. I would think that the parts and service may not be worth the cost. You will find out for sure when you send the camera in for service.

Jerry G.

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OK, thanks, we already suspected it wouldn't be worthwhile -- and indeed sending it in for repairs was already prohibitively expensive, when we asked two years ago. I just asked myself what could be the actual problem -- and I'm still wondering how a relatively minor shock, i.e. without any visible damage, can cause this damage to a CCD device.

Anyway, thanks again, also to the others who took the trouble to reply :-)

Richard Rasker

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http://www.linetec.nl

You like the camera, why not try eBay for another?

In the UK they sell for between 20-30 pounds.

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Adrian C

you might want to check whether it is on the list of cameras with the known CCD problem (like my Canon Powershot A70 and many other brands too). My camera developed the fault after several years, and they fixed it free of charge. BTW the symptoms were similar though I didn't drop it.

Chris

Probably have damaged the CCD. They are fairly acceptable to G force damage.

The overexposure could be a mechanical damage. Some cameras have two iris sizes and they switch with an electromagnet.

**A one Metre drop is a "minor shock"? In which universe might that be?

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Trevor Wilson
www.rageaudio.com.au

How many G's do they except?

OK, a one metre drop can be quite devastating to fragile equipment -- and it's not so much the height as the G forces upon impact, plus the mass of components.

Yet to the tiny, leightweight electronics inside, this type of shock can be considered "minor". I've been in the repair business for over 30 years now, and I've seen my share of impact damage. At this sort of height, damage typically consists of cracks in the housing, and (around bigger, heavier components such as transformers) cracked PCB's. And I've always been able to find traces of such damage -- but not here. There isn't any sign of physical damage whatsoever -- not even a recognizable scratch on the plastic housing -- and AFAICT, the mechanics are operating just fine as well. So I wondered what else could be wrong.

Richard Rasker

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http://www.linetec.nl

Good idea, I'll give that a try -- we have a Kodak EasyShare C875 right now, but it's infuriating how fast it drains the two (rechargeable 2500mAh high-quality) batteries: with luck, they last perhaps three dozen snapshots -- and half that with flash. And the flash must always be switched off manually (and starts charging the moment you switch on the camera). And it immediately forgets its date/time settings upon a battery change. And its optical zoom isn't as good as the KM's 10x ... And it doesn't sit in the hand as snugly as the KM ... OK, it has double the pixel count, but we're quite content with the 4mpx the KM offers.

Richard Rasker

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http://www.linetec.nl

I know the CCD is the device that actually "sees" the image, but WHAT IS IT? I have a fair knowledge of electronics, but I have never done anything with digital cameras, except fix one that had a battery contact problem.

Jim

**About a million years ago (technologically-speaking) I dropped a film camera from a height of about 1 Metre. The damage to the optical system (which still exists in digicams) was terminal.

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Trevor Wilson
www.rageaudio.com.au

It is an IC with a window on top. The lens focuses the image onto the surface of the IC where the image is scanned and coverted to digital information. To put it simply, the IC senses the color and brightness of each pixel and converts that to a number. Put all those numbers back together and you get an image.