When I turn on the camera I get an error message "lens error - restart camera" Have not seen this before

This is probably THE most common problem with digital cameras. Try these procedures.

Try these procedures.

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Camera detected this error while moving the lens and cut the power automatically. This error message may appear if you press on the lens while its moving. Make sure that when your going to turn on the camera, your hand or fingers will not block the lens to retrack. Turning on the camera in a dusty or sandy environnment is also one reason for this message to be displayed.
Try to remove the battery and re-insert it, then turn on the camera again. If the message still persist, take the camera to a service center because there may be a problem with the lens.

Please let me know if you have any questions and if this solution was helpful.

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CANON IXUS 561
Lens sometimes does not extend and error message 'lens error restart camera' appears when camera is turned on. This does not work without several tries and much button pressing. Problem is not caused by finger(s) in front of lens barrel.

If you get that message the lens is stuck.
You should take the camera to a repair center.
They should repair it under warranty.
I have seen this problem a few times already. 

Lens error is usually caused by mechanical faults concerning lens assembly. The lens cannot extend or retract fully, the error is detected and lens error is returned.
Sometimes this can be fixed playing with the lens during extraction or retraction to help the lens asset getting back to normal.
More often the camera lens must be disassembled and re-assembled by a technician to fix the problem.

This is probably THE most common failure among digital cameras. There's a halfway chance of fixing it yourself, described here: http://camerarepair.blogspot.com/2007/12/fixing-lens-error-on-digital-camera.html

This is probably THE most common failure among digital cameras. There's a halfway chance of fixing it yourself, described here: http://camerarepair.blogspot.com/2007/12/fixing-lens-error-on-digital-camera.html

This is probably THE single most common failure among digital cameras. There's a halfway chance of fixing it yourself, described here: http://camerarepair.blogspot.com/2007/12/fixing-lens-error-on-digital-camera.html

The following blog outlines some repair options for a lens error. They won't work for all cases, but they're worth a try if the camera's no longer under warranty:

http://camerarepair.blogspot.com/2007/12/fixing-lens-error-on-digital-camera.html