Have a fujifilm finepix s5700 camera and the flash won't pop up, it releases it but it only pops up a mm or 2
I have a couple of Fuji S700 cameras and one of them recently came down with the same issue. The flash would partly open but not pop up all the way. I decided to open the camera up and find out what was really wrong. It had been sticking before and the above suggestion about blowing it out helps, but this issue is where it unlatches, pops up part way but doesn't go all the way up and if it doesn't go all the way up the flash doesn't work.
The problem is there is a spring insite the flash hinge that pops the flash up once the electronic latch is opened by the auto exposure circuitry. One end of the spring goes into a hole on the part of the flash that pops up and this plastic part is simply too thin for the force on it and it breaks over time. Bad design.
I should say I first thought about a couple of workarounds. One was real easy if you are not too handy. Take a small rubber band and run it from around the eyepiece to around the "lobe" under the flash. When you weant to use the flash, depress the shutter half way to unlatch it, then move the elastic from the lobe to under the raised flash and it will hold it up. You can leave it up all the time if that works for you. It didn't fit my case with the flash up all the time so I decided to forge ahead... Buying a new case might have been a wiser choice :-)
By the way, its not easy to get into the flash area. I pretty much had to completely disassemble the camera, and I got in a fight with a very high voltage capacitor for the flash that holds its charge for a VERY long time after the batteries are out AND it holds enough charge to get you a few times so use a resistor to discharge it when you get into that are or else... be afraid, very afraid. Seriously. Before you disassemble read on...
If you had a very tiny right angle philips screwdriver you could probably do this repair without taking things apart. The key is there are two screws that hold the top cover of the flash area on. This is the area you need to get at to fix this spring. These screws that are only accessible when the flash is popped up and even then you can't see them as they are recessed. If you can get those screws out somehow then you can do this without a nightmare. If you take the whole thing apart then welcome to hell. I am just on my way back from hell. Hope mine works when I get it back together.
I chose to epoxy a small bent pin in to replace the broken plastic part. I used a long square wire wrap pin, bent it to the right shape and cut it to the right dimensions then glued it in place using epoxy. There is a fair amount of room for glue in there, but be careful not to get it into the area where the lower shaft has to slide back and forth as the flash pops up and down. I used 5 minute epoxy and first just used a tiny dab to hold it in place and I positioned it carefully and let that set. Then I did another glue job to add some strength. Position, then reinforce.
I will try to post some pictures in a followup.
I used a straightened thin spring from an old floppy disk. Made a small square hook at one end to fit behind the left hand flash lever viewed from camera front. The rest I bent into a big curve that would press against the left hand side of the flash recess (viewed from front). Took a few attempts to get the right bend. Bit of black tape held down the end of the spring. Drop of superglue probably better. Almost invisible fix.
I solved this problem in a different way--without taking anything apart or removing any screws. I took apart a very fine "screw together" type ink pen to obtain the small spring. I then cut the spring to fit between the recessed screw holes and the flat part under the flash. I then filled the right screw hole with some epoxy and placed one end of the spring in that hole. Then I let that dry over night. The next day I epoxied the other end of the spring to the flat part under the flash. Doesn't look that great when open--but it opens and operates just fine.
Anyway if you are brave and handy you CAN fix this. First remove the back of the camera - 3 screws in battery bay, 1 in the side above the memory card door, The two rear most on the bottom, two in the USB/video door, and the rear most on the left hand carry strap bracket. Now take a look at the two screw holes under the flash (when popped - or flopped out now that is broken) now go and bend a screwdriver of the type you used for the previous screws - you will need a 90 degree bend very close to the tip to fit in this gap and be able to turn the screws a few degrees at at time. You can then slide the shaft out of the flash to release the spring which will have the end that should fit into the broken bracket now sitting proud.. Make a suitable U shaped bracket that will slide over the broken plastic bracket and drill a tiny hole in the side where the spring will clip in. . Getting the spring back in is a fiddly job - I found the best way was to fit the end of the spring into the new bracket, slide the shaft just into the spring - the lever the other end of the spring down into the back of the flash body and then slide the shaft all the way into place. I did have to file down the little plastic "blade" inside the lid which presumably is designed to assist the the (now broken) bracket from breaking....
Carefully prise the back rearward about 5 to 8 mm.
A little at a time lock the screwdriver into the screws and undo until the flash cover comes off.
make sure it fits really well and then epoxy into position.
reverse the dis-assembly and now you should have a working flash
Play with it while you blow it out with compressed air could be grit
This issue seems to be typical for S5700-S5800 cameras, maybe for others too. The original spring is too strong, which breaks the weak plastic bracket.
I used wattyson's idea to use floppy disk spring to replace the original spring, which is more flexible and won't break the plastic bracket but strong enough to open the flash. There are space for 2 springs both on the left and on the right side of the flash, but I found that only 1 floppy spring is still enough to work perfectly.
All you need is to remove the flash cover, apply the floppy spring on the left part of the flash (where the bracket is still not broken) and put the flash cover back.
You don't have to disassemble the camera at all and you have to remove only the 2 screws under the flash. This can be done with a small blended screwdriver. A small mouth mirror helped me with this and it went more easily than I thought.
I shortened one of the ends of the floppy disk to fit into the small bracket. I slided the shaft, which holds the flash to the right to be able to put the spring on it, I put the longer end of the spring down into the back of the flash body. I slided back the shaft into its normal position and I bended the shortened end of the spring to the bracket to fix it.
I did the same on the right side, where the original spring was, but I have removed the old spring first and burnt a small hole with a hot pin under the broken bracket to replace it. I have put the floppy spring on its place and pushed its shortened end into the small hole, I have created. I tested if flash opens correctly and screwed the cover back.
It's ready and better than the original, since I have 2 springs instead of 1 and they are less steady.
Thanks for the guys here for the ideas, which helped me through this mending.
Anyway if you are brave and handy you CAN fix this.
First remove the back of the camera - 3 screws in battery bay, 1 in the side above the memory card door, The two rear most on the bottom, two in the USB/video door, and the rear most on the left hand carry strap bracket.
Carefully prise the back rearward about 5 to 8 mm.
Now take a look at the two screw holes under the flash (when popped - or flopped out now that is broken) now go and bend a screwdriver of the type you used for the previous screws - you will need a 90 degree bend very close to the tip to fit in this gap and be able to turn the screws a few degrees at at time.
A little at a time lock the screwdriver into the screws and undo until the flash cover comes off.
You can then slide the shaft out of the flash to release the spring which will have the end that should fit into the broken bracket now sitting proud..
Make a suitable U shaped bracket that will slide over the broken plastic bracket and drill a tiny hole in the side where the spring will clip in.
.
make sure it fits really well and then epoxy into position.
Getting the spring back in is a fiddly job - I found the best way was to fit the end of the spring into the new bracket, slide the shaft just into the spring - the lever the other end of the spring down into the back of the flash body and then slide the shaft all the way into place.
I did have to file down the little plastic "blade" inside the lid which presumably is designed to assist the the (now broken) bracket from breaking....
reverse the dis-assembly and now you should have a working flash
8,281 views
Usually answered in minutes!
×