E 18 problem

tried this with S500....and my camera is now in a million pieces...if you do this be very careful when disassembling the lens because the parts can easily break. Now the lens slider mechanism does not work at all. Its a little bit more complicated with the later models becauses some ribbon cables are saudered and easily break...plus disassembly is a bit different....but should work if you are very cautious...label all screws.. Good luck!!! If can get a hold of lens paper it is better than cotton swabs for cleaning the lenses.

Peace

I had a very similar problem on an IXUS 60. Lens had stopped retracting and the monitor said Lens error, restart cam. It made a noise every time I tried to start camera, but the lens did not even move.

If this is the case, there may be a problem with the motor or cogs. You can see in the first screens hot in this page where to find the motor, but I am re-posting it here:



Sometimes you get things going by moving this.
In my case, it did, but immediately after it was stuck again. I then looked just below this motor on the side of the camera, there are two cogs there, one black and one white. When I rotated the motor, these cogs were moving, and I could see there were loads of grains of sand stuck in them.

I proceeded to take a needle and carefully dislodge and remove grain after grain. This is a precision job, and it may also work using a vacuum cleaner with a narrow nozzle, but rotating the cogs from the motor, or by zooming once I had it cleaned enough for it to move, and removing all grains I could see with the needle left it working perfectly again!

Had this problem - tried many fixes, then doused the lens and surrounding area with rubbing alcohol on a Qtip and a few minutes later, VIOLA! it worked again. Worth a shot ...

Had a lens error, "restart camera" message on an SD600. Read the posts. Took the case off the camera. Rotated the position sensor disk. Flexed everything that could flex. Didn't disassemble further as the camera started working. Seems OK now. Total time 20 minutes.

I have a power-shot A70 and got the E18 error. I tried what I read on some web-site. Just gave the camera a sharp rap on the USB side (rubber pad) against a pad on top of a table! Didn;t have to take a thing apart and so far it works fine. Go figure!

Hi... As simple it mind sound, but hitting this on the palm a couple of times solved the problem. The lens began to retract but continue with the E18 error. Now on continual basis, 5-6 times, while retracting I kept on the heavy palm tapping, and the problem got resolved. Pls try this elementary method first. Worked for me.

Yesterday my SD300 gave me the E18 error after about 2 years of service. I wasn?t using the case that day and when I turned it on then switched to capture mode, I heard the motor tighten up the gear assembly in an attempt to open the lens. I tried pulling on the lens while powering on without success. The following are photos and comments of my efforts to correct the problem.

If all else fails, you should first try to manually move the lens assembly by rotating the position sensor disc shown at A.

To expose this part of the camera remove the plate on the side of the camera, remove all other exposed screws. Remove the back and front cases. Leave the battery in so you can test if you were successful.

this worked for my SD600 I just got in November which I was really sad about not working anymore! THANK YOU SO MUCH for taking the time to do this!

I have an Canon SD700 IS and got the infamous "Lens error, restart camera". Before this error though, my camera stopped focusing. It would just grind and stay blurred. Then today I turned it on and the lens did not retract and stayed in the open position. After banging, puling and prodding, nothing gave and my lens did not retract. I decided to try banging it while it tried to move the camera. So I pressed the On button and gave the camera a good wack against my palm and the lens began to act normally. It retracted as it should. It also began focusing correctly. Problem solved!!!

I have had this problem a couple of times with my Cannon. If you plug your camera into your TV to view the pictures on TV, turn the camera on and off a couple of times and it should get working back to normal right away. Also, try and gently blow out dust around the lense.

Thank you for your help. These instructions were great in helping us sort out the E18 problem with our Powershot A60. We were devastated when it stopped working this morning - especially since it is only just over a year old, and we can ill afford another camera right now. We tried tapping the USB cover on the desk. This did not work. But when we studied the lens, and saw a bigger gap on one side than the other, we then tried to twist it back in to the camera. We were worried about breaking this function, but thought that we had nothing to lose. After three attempts, and using quite a bit of hand power to turn the lens, the lens finally retracted into the case and the E18 message disappeared. Hurrah!

After I experienced the E18 error and reading all the posts on the web, I examined my IXUS400 thoroughly. When looking to the front of the camera, it looks like the lens is not really centered.
The distance between the body and the lens is not equally everywhere.
I tried to press the side where the distance was the biggest and at the same time pressed the ON/OFF button. The lens came out and it came out completely!
After that I have frequently turned the camera ON and OFF. After that I have never experienced the E18 error again and the camera keeps taken pictures as before. Worthwhile trying!

EXTREMELY common, its a problem with the lens mechanism, and one that is very easy to get. cannon will fix this problem if you're within the 1 year warranty. but will not replace or refund for this specific problem as they should.

you can get this by dropping the camera, or by simply not being totaly gentle with the lens when its out. Very very very delicate.

I'll post a guide here on fixing the problem, but you should know what you're doing.

good luck!

E18 - Repair Guide:

With a little fine motorical luck and some patience, following this guide can help you repair your camera. The repair costs with Canon amount to approx. 260, - EUR and aren't worthwhile themselves in most cases. One should, however, check whether the warranty for the camera still is in effect and whether Canon would cover repair costs.

It cannot be guaranteed that the camera will be 100% functional again after the repair.


Necessary Tools:

- screwdriver Philips size 00
- cotton swabs
- alcohol
- NO grease, silicone spray, etc.

The removal of the error E18 is demonstrated with a model of the digital IXUS. The internal structure of other models of the IXUS (like the USA ELPH) series differs slightly, so that the steps made here can serve as basis for all models.

all text refers to the picture above it.

Thanks to gtoew (solution 1); your solution got me on the right track, and I was able to fix a stuck-closed lens on my wife's Canon SD400, but did not need the full amount of disassembly, although moving the position sensor wheel did not work; it was stuck.

When looking at Fig. 9 of solution 1 from gtoew, you can actually access the nylon cogs from the side without having to remove the cog assembly cover; i.e., imagine an arrow pointing up from the bottom of Fig. 9 towards the camera, and look the same way. You will see the edges of several cogs; in my case, moving the white nylon one solved the problem.

So my advice is to disassemble only as much as is necessary to be able to access the cogs this way.

re greg toews solution...

I followed it and it worked. Greg, thanks very much for the pdf with enough detail to feel confident enough to attack the problem. It was very helpful to have all the pictures and text.

1. As greg suggests, you probably don't have to remove the LCD. The key is to remove the flash to get at the gears. You probably only have to loosen the board on the front side and work the flash out. However, a first timer would not know how much force to use to remove the flash.

2. to fuel the fire...for me the problem was gunked up gears. The "white worm gear" attached to the motor was filled with salt-size plastic junk. Most likely from wear and tear. It looked like bits of the worm gear. I used a tootbrush to clean it up and then the gear and lens assembly moved freely. (Greg gave me this clue in his procedure 1.)

ref: http://www.e18error.com/repair.html
This one really worked like charm -
Another method is to tap the padded USB cover part on a hard surface, for example, a desk. It sounds so simple, but very often in works.

Just had the "Lens Error, Restart Camera" on my SD700 - lense would not come out, and the shutters in front of lense were partway open. This happened after camera was in full knapsack in a softcase (probably tried to turn on and could not extend lense due to tight packing - then jammed gears). I ended up powering on the camera while thumping it facedown on a pad of paper and the lense hanging over the edge so it could extend without hitting anything. After two cycles of this, TADA!! It works perfectly, focuses perfectly in all modes and macro, lens extends all the time, etc! I have abused this camera (dropping on road while taking pictures on my Harley, dropping on floor, etc). Still keeps ticking!!

I had a problem "lens error, restart camera"

I used the first solution of rotating the assemsbly manually and it worked. I used it on Powershot SD-600. Saved myself a lot of money. It took 15 minutes to repair it.
Great site and thanks for the help.

Used Silly girl's photos to help do it on my SD630. worked great, camera works great. Wasnt the exact same camera, but close enough. the only thing I had a pain with was putting the lens back together and getting the shutter back in place, was a bit of pain i should have paid better attention to how the parts all lined up at the start. Oh and I have an extra screw, lol no idea where its from but i'll just assume it wasnt really needed.

Beware of High Voltage source by the charged capacitor!! And Static damage to chips!

Just hold tight and buy another camera to get you buy for time being.. the law suit is in the works and Cannon will be reimbursing customers soon if they cannot repair. They will give the option to do this once or refund 75% of the camera's original value. Whoo!!!

My Powershot S400 was working fine until the other day when the lens would not retract, the camera beeps when powered ON, and the screen is blank w/ E18 showing as the error code. The camera is several years old and has never been abused, dirty, or dropped. I did some research on the Ineternet and found that it looks like a common issue w/ Canons. My research also indicated that it doesnt look like something that can be easily fixed. I figured that the camera was toast, so I decided to do an autopsy to find the root cause of the E18 lens malfunction. First of all, I do not recommend opening up the camera body if you have any hope to repair it. It is highly complicated w/ many small screws. It is not made to be tinkered with by the average consumer. I carefully removed screws and pulled parts away from each other as to not cause more physically damage. The lens assembly is in the center of the camera, and everything must be completely disassembled to get to it. I knew that there was no way for me to reassemble this thing and make it work again. Anyway, I took apart the lens assembly and found that the gear set that moves the lens in and out is made from a brass drive gear moving the plastic gear on the lens body. The plastic gear on the lens body had about a 1/4" section that had broken gear teeth. So this looks like what caused the lens to malfunction, stop moving, and give the E18 error. It may be due to a fatigue or wear out of the plastic gear teeth. Everything else looked ok. I have several pictures showing the defect. It was rather fun to dissect the camera. I am amazed on how compactly it is put together.

PS...If broken gear teeth on the lens is the root of the E18 errors on other Canon models, MY OPINION is that this IS NOT a repairable problem. It would not be economical to pay a technician to disassemble and fix the lens assembly. This is basically a disposable camera (at least for the S400 model).

I have a Canon A610 my 8yr old son was taking a picture and after set the front lens area of the camera on his skin and then turned it off, a bit of skin was pinched in the lens ring and then locked up the camera followed by the infamous E18 error. I figured it was a goner and set it aside for a few weeks, then googled the error and found this site. I have tried 1 method to attempt to fix the camera. A few hard fast smacks on the camera solved the problem!! I have a padded foam mouse pad not the Gel wrist rest kind just a plain rubber padded one, I firmly thumped the camera on the left side of the camera, not the side with the USB/ memory card port. With Fresh batteries I pushed the on button and bam the lens opened! I put in a memory card and took a few pictures all is well, no problems.

Manually rotating sensor rotor and cleaning gear fixed the Canon "lens error" for me. 
I placed instructions with photo's here: http://www.avh.dds.nl/Fix-Canon-SD600-Lens-Error/

Might want to make sure your camera is the same as in the pics, my camera is now ruined after trying this.

My S400 lens was stuck about 10% of the way out. I noticed a gap on one side that was slightly more than the other side. I tried pushing the lens in on the side with the bigger gap and also banging on my palm, but those ideas did not work. Finally, I got the idea to use my fingernail to pull the lens towards the bigger gap side immediately after pressing the power button. My leverage allowed the lens to extend successfully. However, it then retracted and I still have the E18 error. Rrrrrggggh!

It's a Canon. Throw it in the garbage and buy a real camera from a real company.

Jeez. Just google E-18.

If you are fustrated at your camera and have tryed all suggestions to repair and nothing has worked ,a very simple solution that never fails is to place camera on a large ,then take 10 steps back ,aim your 12 gauge shotgun loaded with 3 1/2 magnum load buck shot ,aim carefuly so as not to miss, then "FIRE". problem solved,now go and buy a real camera.

I have a 3 year old Canon PowerShot SX100 IS. While testing an external battery power supply I built, the external power connector pulled out while the lens barrel was extending just after I turned on the camera. Power to the camera was lost before the lens barrel fully extended and wouldn't reset when I repowered the camera. The dreaded error message "Lens error, restart camera" appeared and the camera shut down. I restarted the camera over and over and over again but the lens wouldn't reset. I was extremely lucky to find the information here and read various fixes. I didn't want to take the camera apart so I tried various fixes others have successfully used. I first tried smacking the bottom of the camera hard with the palm of my hand just after pushing the on/off button but that didn't work. The one which worked was smacking the camera on the side immediately after I pushed the on/off button. I smacked it quite hard twice with the palm of my hand then, suddenly, the lens barrel began to move and the lens reset itself back to its starting position. Thanks to everyone who has posted here!

I was about to give up with my Ixus 75 - had tried all the suggestions listed but what worked for me was to strongly tap the unit on the palm of my hand immediately after turning it on. I had it lens facing upward and probably hit it 5 times during a second of time and hey presto... now to see how long it stays operational - good luck!

I have a canon powershot SX100 with the "Lens Error, restart camera" message. I tried wacking the camera as noted above while turning it on and it worked!! Thanks a lot.

Hiya. I had the similar problem. Canon IXUS 950 IS. The camera hasn´t been taken out in like 2 years,when I first experienced the e18/lens error problem. The lensshutters got stuck halfways closing, and whenever pressing on/off, the famous ticking sound appeared and after a few second: lens error/restart camera. I have tried to manually force/push the lensshutters together with no luck. After reading here, I tried the tapping (perhaps a bit too hard), a last time before dismantling the camera. And to my surprise the lens went out!!! Taking photos and videorecorder still works perfectly.

A million thanks to all you who has posted here for your help! My husband laughed at me when I said I would try to fix the problem, and his mouth was wide-open when he saw that I actually did fix it (for once ;).

my suggestion is to buy a new camera and give this one to a bear at the zoo...jkp

I own the POWERSHOT SX100IS. I had the "lens error, restart camera". But I had success in applying what I have read here. I was able to see that the lens door was cocked open slightly and that one part of the lens seemed slightly higher than the other when looking from the top. But when I put pressure on one side of the lens that was higher, the door wanted to close. So I started the camera with the view photo button (blue triangle on the back) and held down or put pressure the side of the lens that caused the door to want to shut. When I noticed that the door shut comletely then I knew the camera had been fixed. I turned it on and the camera started normally. All solved. SAVED $120. Thx for all the suggestions.

Joel M.
Mardela Springs, MD USA

Same E18 Error. I tried pulling dirt from the gears (A LOT) but it still didnt work. So I attemped to fix it myself by pulling it apart and following the directions. This was a disaster. There are so many reasons why this didnt work. 1st I have meat hands. They are made for grabbing lumber and cupping fine girls booty's, not for this. I think that i need little Asain hands to do this right. I had a hell of a time with the 4 different sizes of screws that went into the whole thing. I dont know why they cant just use one type. also getting the crcuit board strips out was really hard. How do you even grab it? I used a lil piece of metal to do the job and tore a hole in the strip! OMG! Then getting it back togheer was a *****. i even took detailed notes. Overall i wouldent suggest doing this unless you are the type of person who does this kinda thing for fun or a living. If there is anyway that you can have someone else do it its probably worth your time. Over all it took me about 3 hours to break it even more than it was to begin with. In that ammount of time I could have made enough $ to buy a new camera. oh well. good luck!

I have a Canon Powershot SX100IS with the lens error message. After reading the replies on FixYa I tried the gentle tapping on the side of the camera (with the palm of the hand) whilst powering up method and it worked.

Thank god for this page, after a brief read we were still sceptical that anything could help, especially when banging your camera doesn't really sound like a great idea, however trust me it works a treat!

A friend dropped the camera and our lens had completely detracted into the camera body and wouldn't budge no matter how many times turned on/off, battery removed/reinserted etc so my boyfriend held the camera at an angle and banged it on its side (obv not on lens itself!) whilst turning it on at the same time. After a few hits we could see that the lens starting to move out ever so slightly so at this point increased the strength of knocking it until....sorted!!! Don't give up hope and end up smashing it out of frustration, it takes a while of bashing to get it to move.

i was taking pictures with my sx100ls and accidentally dropped it. when i picked it back up, the upper lense was tilted to the right. i tried turning it on and off but it just kept beeping at me and wouldnt move. i thought for sure i was in trouble, because it's my mom's camera and she loves it. and i was home alone and didnt know what to do.

-x-


if any of you had my same problem, do this: take out the battery for a couple of minutes, then replace it. find where the lense is sticking out the most,and tap it on your palm a couple of times. it should pop back into place. do this before going to a repair shop. if it works, it could save you a lot of money.

The problem was solved!! I have powershot S70. I dropped the camera while I was taking picture. The lens was stuck so I got the E18 error. I did retract, tap and push more than 20 times, but no luck. I almost gave up. Finally I pushed the whole lens really hard while the camera was turned on. The lens was back into the camera completely and it works!!!

I read all the blogs which told me how to take apart my camera to fix the problem - and it's allot more difficult than they say !

And then I gave the lens a little twist anti-clockwise and hey presto ! Problem solved. No E 18 error code and my cameras working perfectly again.

Try it. I hope it works for you too.

DeeceJ

GREAT! Solution #3 fixed my problem. Lense was not able to close, display stated "E18"... I manually moved the linse as shown on picture A in solution #3.. it worked!
THANK YOU, gtoes!!!

Michael

I had a similar problem with my lens not opening and my screen was black when i turned it on. My camera is a Samsung L210. I solved this problem by pushing the lens back into place then i took out my battery(the time doesnt really matter how long you take it out for). I put the battery back in the camera and then i turned it on, the lense made like a knocking sound and then my camera was back on, but everytime i turn the camera on the lense gets jammed again so i just repeat the same thing i did to get it on and it works everytime. :P

We started this procedure but found it too intense and super complicated. So I hit the lens with the base of my palm while turning it on and it worked!!!!!!!!!!

When the E18 error is present and that the lens system is out to the “off”, but retracts and go out with “on”, it acts can be of a blocked problem focussing.

The following links is interesting for the Canon Ixus 750 or similar:
http://tumbleweed.org.za/
As it is known as: to check that the focussing system functions perfectly.

The screw below A being difficult to turn to make move the lens of focus, it is enough to dismount the metal plate hiding the gears on the outlet side of the actuator of focus (metallic cylinder to the top of the red circle) and to make turn the gears on the outlet side of the actuator with a small screwdriver and go up the lens to half the height.
Then, to make leave the objective (if it is in retracted position) while turning the large gears the zoom, released of the actuator for more facility,
To connect the ribbon connectors of the ordering of the objective on the mother chart, to start, the apparatus posts E18 once again, to again restart, the lens of the focussing system finds its place, E18 disappears.
As it is known as, it is not necessary to assemble for testing, the connection of the ribbon connectors of the lens system on the mother chart is enough.
Thus I solved E18 on my Canon Ixus, after 3 dismantle / reassembly
Sorry, I am French and I do not speak very well English.

My E18 problem was resolved by, as turning the camera on, let the lens go in, but prevent it from going back out again, by a firm handhold.

Yngve

Moving the sensor wheel fixed my camera!

Thank You to all who have posted here; saved me $150 in 10 minutes!

Take a look at my guide on how to disassemble the Canon Powershot A650 IS camera with pictures.
http://heliodorj.blogspot.com/2008/05/disassembling-canon-powershot-a650.html

It did not work on my camera. Finally I had to through it away.

I took my Canon IXUS SD700 apart and found a tooth broken off a gear.

My eleven year old accidentally knocked the camera over while it was in video-mode. Lens was stuck in the half-extended position and when I tried on/off it made a grinding sound and the screen started up but then defaulted to "Lens error, restart camera". After perusing this website, I took hold of the extend lens and manually wiggled it. Tried on/off and the grinding noise stopped, but still got the error message and no operation. So, I tried a quick rap on the leather armrest (lens side down) and the lens retracted and the screen turned on, ready to go! Enjoyed watching the video of the ball hitting the camera and my son's stricken expression into the camera lens right before the fade to black....Thanks for saving me $125.00 in repair costs and shipping!

Canon A610, full-size photos with comments in Russian.
Reassembly of lens unit was very inextricable for me...

This is my 4th Ixus in 7 Years. The last one had an E18 error as it was dropped, I opened up the entire camera including the lens casing, on the Ixus 500 model and managed to fix the solution to a degree where everything worked fine except zooming inwards, which required a shutdown.
I upgraded to the Ixus 750 and the day I went on my holidays the same problem happened with this one. The auto lens cap is slightly open when camera shutdown. When you turn it on the picture is blurred. THis is definitely down to the motor that feeds the lens out. Needs to be opened carefully and calibrated. I can post a review online on how to do this if anyone is interested. muarrij@hotmail.com

Gtoews's solution also worked for my Canon SD400 when the lens would not extend. I had already taken it apart looking for a mechanical solution but was unable to force the gearing. Unsticking the position sensor disc did the trick. Saved me about $25 in shipping charges for extended warranty service. By the way, I encourage anyone who buys these gadgets to consider a Mack Camera extended warranty. A five year warranty cost me about $40 on eBay.

WD-40  camera works great now