Camera fault

[Steph]

An intermittent fault has now become constant on my camera. It's a decent Canon, Poweshot digital, and what is happening affects both LCD display on the camera and the actual pictures taken. In other words, what you see is what you get.

The image has an almost correct colouring down the LH margin, but the rest of the image is washed out into a faded lavendar/purple shade. Ideas, anyone?

[David Martin]

Sensor chip borked. If within warranty replace under warranty. Otherwise it is dead. Sounds like a heat issue - something has cracked and you are getting lots of thermal noise on the image.

[Steph]

Ta. Camera is nine years old. Can the sensor be replaced, do you think? I'd guessed that was the area of the problem. It's a decent camera with a good lens, so I'd like to save it.

[fuaran]

Yes, probably due to the sensor. It could be a poor connection for the ribbon cable. So you could take it apart, and make sure its all plugged in properly.

Seems to be quite a common problem with Canon Powershots. Makes a change from the usual "lens error" anyway...

[hubner]

I've a Canon Powershot with the same problem, think I bought it in 2004 for about £200. About 3 years later, the screen and pictures suddenly went all blurry with random patterns.

http://www.imaging-resource.com/badccds.html

[jsabine]

My first thought was that if it's 9 years old, then anything other than a DIY repair may well be uneconomic, especially compared to s/h prices for newer kit (I paid £40 for an S100 on ebay, on the grounds that at that price I didn't mind *too* much if it drowned). G-series prices, if that's what you have, appear a bit more robust - G11s seem to be fairly readily available under a ton, but G12s are rare under £150 and newer models are commensurately more.

There's a potentially useful discussion of a DIY G12 sensor repair at https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/55006277. It wouldn't surprise me if there were similarities between this and earlier models, but NB the comments, and the link there to https://www.lifepixel.com/tutorials/infrared-diy-tutorials/canon-powershot-g12-ir, which has detailed pictures and a potential gotcha around a filter.

[T42]

The other consideration is that sensors & the rest of the tech have come a long way in 9 years, especially as regards performance in low light conditions. Might be worth casting about for something recent.