my camera is dead :( advice?

[yonderboy]

I've got an EOS Elan7e - GREAT camera.. i love it dearly. It was working just fine a couple of days ago; today when I went to switch to macro mode for a really neat shot that caught me off guard, it failed to power up. No LCDs, flash, autofocus, servos. Everything was dead I multimetered the batteries and found that they were bad - one had good charge, one did not. Bought new batteries, hopeful that they would solve my dilemma - no dice. No change with the brand new batteries - tested those too, they were fine.

I popped off the lens and noticed that the mirror is half-open, half closed - that's not sposda happen Took it into the local camerashop and the guy working at the counter told me that happens to the Elan7 when the circuitboard becomes fried - shorted out somehow, he says. Would also explain the one bad battery... I took a good smell, though, and nothing smells charred within. Took the camera to Ritz, where I know a guy who used to shoot with an Elan7 and he said he'd never seen the mirror stuck in that position before, and didnt know what to make of it. Not sure if I'm still covered under an extended warranty or not - either way, it's gonna be a bumpy summer if I have to wait the 6-8 weeks for Canon to fix it.

Anyone ever run on this, or similar, problems before?

thanks, peace and love,
Alberto

 

[Mr Hako]

yeah, I had a stuck shutter on an old OM10. The trick was to take off the lens and firmly (but not violently) hit the camera down onto the palm of your hand (the base of the camera into your palm).

If the camera still has a guarantee, get it back to the shop. Otherwise take it to a camera repair shop, and it should be fixable in days (not weeks)

 

[yonderboy]

Hrm. Will try that... but would that be enough to keep it from powering on altogether?

 

[Mr Hako]

I'm hoping that you just have a mechanical jam rather than a electronic one. Take the batteries out whilst you try to unjam it. Whatever you do, don't touch the mirror!

 

[yonderboy]

absolutely not! thanks for the advice - ill try it after work t'day.