Point and shoot flash repair (with pics)

[Jeremy airjer W]

About a month ago I started a post asking if anyone had every repaired their own point and shoot camera. Specifically the flash had stopped working and I wasn’t sure if it was even possible to repair. The response was limited as I kind of expected, but I am always up for a challenge, so I continued my inquiry searching the web.

The first thing I found out was that this was a fairly common problem with these cameras as many people had posted with identical problems. The next step was to find out if a part was available. A quick call to the manufacturer and I was quoted $45 plus shipping for an in stock item. My frugal side took over and I decided to search online to see if there was a cheaper alternative. Good choice on my part as I found a business that deals in used camera parts. They had the flash assembly in stock for $15 including shipping.

So know I have to figure out how to get this

Into this

It wasn’t that bad. I just started removing screws and carefully pulling at the case until the back panel came off.

This revealed a couple of screws that held the front cover in place.

Once that was off I had to remove the screw that held the flash to the button and thumbwheel assembly and then remove the assembly

I finally had complete access to the flash assembly which was held into place by two more screws.

Then it simply popped out, after I released all 335 volts that where stored in the capacitor through my thumb on my left hand to the index finger on my right hand and dropped the camera on the table. That tickled a little!

The new part popped back in and in about 45 minutes total the flash and camera where working again.

[MN Shutterbug]

Wow, that's impressive. Congrats on succeeding in something few people would even attempt. Thanks for sharing the step by step photos. That was quite interesting, to say the least. If my P & S ever breaks, I'll know who to send it to.

[Dbl]

Good for you, nice fix and photos to go with. I commend you for even giving it a try. Funny thing about those capacitors...they do hold a charge.

[mmeyer]

That's a great story. That's something I would do, only without the actual fixing of the camera. I would just take it apart to see how it worked. Glad to hear you got it working.

[Steve Foss]

Thanks for sharing the process, jer. Pretty cool that you did it and showed it.

[Shack]

Ya Airjer,

Great post dude.