You head back to the store with your poor little camera and the guy behind the counter (that knows nothing about cameras except for what's written on the box, and even less about camera repair) tells you it's not worth it to fix it and you should toss it in the trash. You feel ripped off and mad at the camera manufacturer and you toss it out and buy a new one made by somebody else.
There are alternatives, there are ALWAYS alternatives to every problem. Honest! Yes, it may cost $100 to fix your camera, and yes you can buy that camera in the bubble pack on the shelf at W**l M**t (they don't pay my bills... I don't advertise their name, sorry) for less than $100, but what kind of quality do you honestly expect from a $100 camera? Broken/cracked LCD screen.
It was hard for me to choose between a jammed lens and a broken LCD screen but I stuck with LCD for #1 because it's so easy to break your LCD that you don't even have to touch the camera to do it!
The LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) is the view screen on the back of the camera that lets you see menus, playback pictures etc. The LCD is very thin, very fragile, and on many many cameras completely UNPROTECTED! Look at the back of your camera, is the screen recessed slightly or is the back of the camera flat and smooth? If it's flat you have a protective 'window' or 'glass' over the LCD to help prevent damage and breakage. If it's not flat, you have nothing protecting your LCD and should put a good quality LCD screen protector on the camera and NOT those thin, flimsy 'saran wrap' plastic film screen protectors, they are worthless.
Don't leave your camera in your car in summer or winter. Extreme heat can cause expansion of the liquid in the LCD and cause it to 'crack', and on the other side of things extreme cold can cause it to freeze!
The manufacturer will just site impact damage and will refuse the repair even if the camera wasn't dropped etc. Look for a defective camera on e**y (hey they don't pay me to advertise for them...) and make one good camera from the two if you are handy.
Look for an actual camera repair business and not somebody that will send it to the manufacturer and tell you it's $200 and 4-6 weeks to repair. I can't tell you Brand .... Certain SERIES of cameras have 1 or 2 models that are difficult to work on, yet the rest of them are fairly straight forward. How is an LCD replaced?
With most Canon digital camera LCD screens for example (using them as the example because they have the largest market share) all you do is disconnect the ribbon cable for the LCD and the backlight (the light that shines through the LCD and allows you to see what is on the screen) and then install the new LCD. Some backlights need to be soldered to the mainboard of the camera, some do not.
Be careful to not touch the flash capacitor contacts! You will probably throw your camera across the room when it happens. (Yeah, I've done it, I've been repairing cameras for 5 years now so....) We have 'flash capacitor dischargers' and use them every time we open a camera.
There are alternatives, there are ALWAYS alternatives to every problem. Honest! Yes, it may cost $100 to fix your camera, and yes you can buy that camera in the bubble pack on the shelf at W**l M**t (they don't pay my bills... I don't advertise their name, sorry) for less than $100, but what kind of quality do you honestly expect from a $100 camera? Broken/cracked LCD screen.
It was hard for me to choose between a jammed lens and a broken LCD screen but I stuck with LCD for #1 because it's so easy to break your LCD that you don't even have to touch the camera to do it!
The LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) is the view screen on the back of the camera that lets you see menus, playback pictures etc. The LCD is very thin, very fragile, and on many many cameras completely UNPROTECTED! Look at the back of your camera, is the screen recessed slightly or is the back of the camera flat and smooth? If it's flat you have a protective 'window' or 'glass' over the LCD to help prevent damage and breakage. If it's not flat, you have nothing protecting your LCD and should put a good quality LCD screen protector on the camera and NOT those thin, flimsy 'saran wrap' plastic film screen protectors, they are worthless.
Don't leave your camera in your car in summer or winter. Extreme heat can cause expansion of the liquid in the LCD and cause it to 'crack', and on the other side of things extreme cold can cause it to freeze!
- Don't put anything up against the LCD in your camera bag, it will bang against the LCD and crack it (yes, even if it has a window over it, it will break!)
- Don't put your camera in your back pocket and then sit down!
- Don't put your camera in your front pocket and then roll over on it.
The manufacturer will just site impact damage and will refuse the repair even if the camera wasn't dropped etc. Look for a defective camera on e**y (hey they don't pay me to advertise for them...) and make one good camera from the two if you are handy.
Look for an actual camera repair business and not somebody that will send it to the manufacturer and tell you it's $200 and 4-6 weeks to repair. I can't tell you Brand .... Certain SERIES of cameras have 1 or 2 models that are difficult to work on, yet the rest of them are fairly straight forward. How is an LCD replaced?
With most Canon digital camera LCD screens for example (using them as the example because they have the largest market share) all you do is disconnect the ribbon cable for the LCD and the backlight (the light that shines through the LCD and allows you to see what is on the screen) and then install the new LCD. Some backlights need to be soldered to the mainboard of the camera, some do not.
Be careful to not touch the flash capacitor contacts! You will probably throw your camera across the room when it happens. (Yeah, I've done it, I've been repairing cameras for 5 years now so....) We have 'flash capacitor dischargers' and use them every time we open a camera.
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