I dropped my camera while it was on and the lens was in the process of extending- the camera hit on the lens and now the camera turns on' there is a little motor noise and the screen lights up and says lens error- then it attempts to retry the lens- the lens cover never opens- what to do?

Here are some troubleshooting steps that you can try:

I think you would be further ahead by replacing the lens, the corrections for lens errors works best on small camera's and it is risky. The only thing you can try is gently extend the lens manually and power up at the same time in an attempt to align the guides in the lens housing at the maxium extension, if it works the lens will retract when the camera is turned off. The other possible solution is, extend the lens and sharply hit around the lens housing with the palm of your hand and hit power at the same time, "very risky" but this might be enough to knock it back in position, but please note this can make it worse.

Lens errors are fairly common. Usually it's sand or grit interfering with the lens extension mechanism. Or the camera's been dropped with the lens extended. Or the camera has been powered on, but the lens had been blocked preventing its extension. Or the battery ran down with the lens extended ...

Don't want to get your hopes up too high, but here are some things that you can do to try to correct it. They only seem to work for about 40% of the lens errors, but if the camera is out of warranty, they're worth a try.

Lens errors are fairly common. Usually it's sand or grit interfering with the lens extension mechanism. Or the camera's been dropped with the lens extended. Or the camera has been powered on, but the lens had been blocked preventing its extension. Or the battery ran down with the lens extended ...

Here are some things that you can do to try to correct it. They only seem to work for less than 50% of the lens errors, but if the camera is out of warranty, they're worth a try.

Lens errors are fairly common. Usually it's sand or grit interfering with the lens extension mechanism. Or the camera's been dropped with the lens extended. Or the camera has been powered on, but the lens had been blocked preventing its extension. Or the battery ran down with the lens extended ...

Here's some things that you can do to try to correct it. They only seem to work for less than 50% of the lens errors, but if the camera is out of warranty, they're worth a try.

Try the procedures in this tip.

The E18 error is fairly common. Usually it's sand or grit interfering with the lens extension mechanism. Or the camera's been dropped with the lens extended. Or the camera has been powered on, but the lens had been blocked preventing its extension.

Here's some things that you can do to try to correct it. They only seem to work for about 50% of lens errors, but they're worth a try:

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

The following blog outlines some repair options for a lens error:

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

Hi:
If the camera has not been abused, such as dropping, impact of some sort, or restricting the extending lens, then there is an internal problem.
See my other posts on suggestions of selling it.

A new camera will fix problem perfectly. LOL Did you drop it? Seem like there might be a short or something similar. Had U ever play the game "Operation"? This camera need it, of cause done by the pro. LOL