Camera malfunctions

[RichardM]

We went to a birthday party Saturday which involved a fair bit of rain.  I didn't think the camera (Canon A720IS) ever got wet, but this morning it started messing up.  Things like it powers off after taking a picture, only without doing the usual shutdown (i.e. lens stays open).  It also refuses to go into picture viewer mode and lots of the selector buttons no longer work.  It worked fine last night after we got home from the party and I was able to download all of the pics.  I then took the SD card out and used a card reader to clean up some stuff.  When my wife tried to take some pics this morning, it started acting up.  I tried using a different SD card but still no joy.

So, where do I go from here?  I bought it last December via Amazon.com.  Should I try taking it to the local Ritz Camera and see what they think?  Will they charge me for thinking?  Or should I just ship it off to Canon and hope the warranty covers it?  It doesn't help that I'd really like to have it working for next weekend when my daughter and I head down to Port Aransas to spend a long weekend with family.  At least the old Sony DSC-P72 still seems to be working.

[Al]

I assume you have tried new batteries?  If it could have gotten wet, I'd try putting in the oven at about 110-120 degrees F for an  hour or so or just leave the car parked in the sun tomorrow with the camera in it.

Al

[RichardM]

I tried new fresh batteries to no avail.  It's always been pretty good at squawking when the battery power gets low.  I haven't had the guts to try the oven yet.

[austin gorpchomper]

Have you gone to http://www.usa.canon.com support? I had a Canon fail me less than a year after I bought it. I had gotten it on-line, maybe Amazon but I'm not sure. I filled out an on-line support form and it was under warranty so everything was free and pretty quick (sending it off to Canon etc...).

[Roy]

Maybe try sealing it in a baggie with several desiccant packets.  They make some for underwater camera gear that are pretty effective.

[RichardM]

I'm still pretty sure the camera never actually got wet. Of course, when the humidity is 100%....

And besides, that funnel cloud was at least a mile or two away. Did I mention this was a 4 year old's birthday party? Nothing like shepherding a dozen 4 year old girls (and a few boys, who actually scream louder and higher than the girls) inside during the middle of a party only to have the power go out for an hour or so while the rain is coming down like mad outside.

Taken before the storm:

[jamesb]

I would send it back in to see if its covered under warranty. they may not cover it if its water damage, some electronic devices have a water detection sensor that turns an odd color if it gets wet.

but in the end your wife broke it, as it worked the last time you touched it. she put her hands on it and it broke.....tell her that, and if we hear back from you we will know she fell for it. If we dont hear from you....well we know what that means

James

[badknees]

Get one of these

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/yqVHUx41Yzw&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/yqVHUx41Yzw&rel=0</a>

[tjavery]

...I then took the MicroSD out and used a card reader to clean up some stuff...

Just a wild thought here, but have you tried to format your card in-camera first? (After you've downloaded all your pics off the card first, of course)

Flash memory has a bad habit of becoming corrupt when you read, write, edit, and delete stuff on it, especially when using two devices (card reader and also the camera). I've had this happen before. The best thing to do is format the card (in-camera, not in the card reader) after you're done with the photos on it.

[Casa Grande]

Richard, sounds like your contacts still have water inside.   Take out the battery, card, etc.  Take as much of the camera apart as you can.  Let it all air dry.  There's probably still moisture inside of it.  Once it is all completely dry, you should be good to go unless some of the electronics have corroded.  In that case..... 

[RichardM]

Hmmmm, now I can't get my PC to read the SD card using a card reader. I'm wondering if I did something to screw up the card and it in turn fouled up the camera. The PC won't even bring up properties or format the card. My backup SD card is readable/writeable, but empty.  The camera still doesn't work with it either.

I warmed up the camera in the oven last night and left the battery/card access open all night, but still no joy.

[RichardM]

...I then took the MicroSD out and used a card reader to clean up some stuff...

Just a wild thought here, but have you tried to format your card in-camera first? (After you've downloaded all your pics off the card first, of course)

Flash memory has a bad habit of becoming corrupt when you read, write, edit, and delete stuff on it, especially when using two devices (card reader and also the camera). I've had this happen before. The best thing to do is format the card (in-camera, not in the card reader) after you're done with the photos on it.

I haven't been able to get the camera to respond yet but I'll try that option.

[RichardM]

Reformatting the SD card in the camera seems to have done the trick.  Downloading pictures wasn't an option as neither the camera nor the card reader could read it. The only new pictures were the few my wife tried to take yesterday so no biggie. It took a while for the camera to bring up the menu, but it finally responded and let me format the card. I was at least able to take a test picture and switch between camera and file viewer modes afterwards.  Muchas Gracias!  Of course, I have yet to try connecting the camera to the PC.... I'm way late for work as it is.  I'll have to play with it tonight.  Either way, the Sony will be making the trip to Port A as well.  Although, I guess I could fall back on the cell phone camera.

It's still weird that the camera was shutting itself off after taking a picture, but hopefully that was just a software design issue in that it didn't have exception handling for a bad memory card.

And now for some ranting:  What's up with USB?  It has to be one of the flakiest connections out there.  Devices just seem to suddenly stop working for no reason, then work fine if you use a different port.  Or sometimes they just refuse to work again unluess you reinstall the drivers.  I carry the card reader with my camera so I can access the card on other PCs without having the stoopid Canon software.  The camera was apparently designed so you can't connect directly to the SD card via the USB cable.  They want control and force you to go through their software.  Fine if you're at home, but sucks otherwise.  It also prevents you from being able to access any other files on the card.  Oh well.  I guess I need to win the lotto so I can design my own camera and have it built to my specs.

[Roy]

I'm on my 6th digital camera and I've never had a problem with USB.  I never connect my camera to my computer;  the only reason I've ever seen to do this is if you're using tethered shooting.   A lot of the problems I've read about involve people using their computers to format their cards, especially if it's still in the camera.   I've also heard people complain about cards they bought on EBAy being counterfeit.  For some reason, I want to say SD seems to have problems more often, but I can't recall where that somes from.   

[SHANEA]

And now for some ranting:  What's up with USB?  It has to be one of the flakiest connections out there.

I notice that too every once in a while, but only under XP.  Can't say I've had any problems under Vista.  As for flakiest, I always thought that parallel was the flakiest.