Canon Rebel XS intermittently not turning on.

[kuziwk91]

I bought a used canon Rebel XS, everything looked in great shape and the camera worked great at the time of purchase. Upon actually using the camera i've been running into issues regarding the power turning on and off. The camera is my girlfriends, and i already spent quite a bit on her christmas gifts already so im trying to keep money to a minimal. At any rate, i had the camera sitting in the back of my jeep which may have gotten to about 10 degrees C, in this scenareo the camera will just not turn on. I thought at first because its cold, however it should still operate fine in 10 Degrees C. Essentially i re-insert the battery and mem card leave the switch to "on" for a few minutes than turn it back off, after about 10 minutes the camera will power up and take pictures great. I have three different batteries so i doubt that is the issue, one thing i will mention is the camera will not turn on with no lense or memory card, however with no lense and a memory card it will turn on. With a lense and no memory card it wont turn on. Not sure if those details matter or not. Another example of it acting funny in just about freezing temps and taking photos the camera will shut down and will not turn back on until the whole camera is warmed up and the battery has been inserted serveral times. It almost seems to be that there is a loose connection or faulty battery switch. Ive read the internal battery can cause strange issues, however i could not find any way to replace the battery.

Any thoughts? I've read about the canon loyalty program, however ideally i dont want to be spending more than $150 on a body. I imagine a repair will cost over $200. The only option i see fit is to purchse another used canon body and give it to her, take apart the existing one and see whats going on inside. Im not an electrical enginner however i have some experience with iphones and various other small electronics repair, such as cracked screens and the likes so i dont see it being much more difficult than what im used to.  

[kuziwk91]

Got the camera back, definitely seems to be something with the battery door. Strange because it will flicker the red led but won't turn on. Does the switch in the battery door contacts need to be cleaned or something? Is it just conicidence that temperature seems to affect this. Yes you guys are right this camera is old however it only has 21,000 shutter actuations so theoritcally it still has 80% life left.

[ebiggs1]

No.

Yes.

Actually, 30,000 is usually where a Rebel dies.  Some go longer, some don't, but most average 30k.

[kuziwk91]

Why do they Claim 100,000 Actuations than? Also i think i narrowed down the problem...when the camera is slightly cold the switch that tells the camera that the battery door is closed is not ligning up properly why it works when its room temp and not when its colder i have no idea. What i do know is if i take a knife to the switch and push it in manually the camera will turn on even when cold, any thought on this? I guess i can maybe glue a small peice of plastic to the switch or something.

[ebiggs1]

30K is the repair history no matter what anyone else says.

I think you are going to have a Rube Goldberg before you are through.

[kuziwk91]

Well I give up, I put the camera outside for 10 minutes to test it and the bloody thing wont turn back on just flashes the red led 3 quick times. I took it apart cleaned the battery switch contacts, even put some solder down on the board to make better contact and bent the door switch to always make contact so the camera always reads that the door is open. Still same same situation, perhaps the PCB is dying and wont work in cold weather or has some form of weather damage. Problem is everyone wants too much money for their used crap, in Canada I can buy a brand new T3 for $350 with a lense. Canon through their loyalty program are offering me $300 for the t3. Do you guys know if I have to give in the lense to get a whole camera with the 25% off?

[kuziwk91]

Guys i ended up buying a canon Rebel XSI for $130, seems well used but well taken care of. It has taken 34K Photos...what do you guys think?? I was inpatient and the price was cheap and i already drove 1/2" hour to the guys place. At any rate i fixed the original XS, i cleaned a bunch of the ribbon cables aswell as i noticed when the camera was cold an wouldnt turn on if i pushed the bottom of the camera very hard with my thumb it would turn on. One of the metal ground compression clips was not making contact with the PCB, cold weather caused the metal to contract ever so slightly not making enough contact with te PCB. At any rate i now have two working camera.

Canon XS 22K Shutters

Canon XSI 34K Shutters.

Which one should i keep and which one to sell?

[ebiggs1]

Toss a coin!

[kuziwk91]

Curious....why does it seem nikon enginneers for more shutter acutations and accoridng to what i have found they seem to last longer.

[RobertTheFat]

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@kuziwk91 wrote:

Curious....why does it seem nikon enginneers for more shutter acutations and accoridng to what i have found they seem to last longer.

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You're overthinking this. An old camera is an old camera. If you have Nikon lenses, buy an old Nikon; if you have Canon lenses, buy an old Canon. It isn't rocket science.

If you were buying a new camera, that's the time to examine the manufacturers' competing claims. But rarely is a purchase decision based on the probable number of shutter actuations. Only to a professional would it ever matter.

[RobertTheFat]

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@kuziwk91 wrote:

Guys i ended up buying a canon Rebel XSI for $130, seems well used but well taken care of. It has taken 34K Photos...what do you guys think?? I was inpatient and the price was cheap and i already drove 1/2" hour to the guys place. At any rate i fixed the original XS, i cleaned a bunch of the ribbon cables aswell as i noticed when the camera was cold an wouldnt turn on if i pushed the bottom of the camera very hard with my thumb it would turn on. One of the metal ground compression clips was not making contact with the PCB, cold weather caused the metal to contract ever so slightly not making enough contact with te PCB. At any rate i now have two working camera.

Canon XS 22K Shutters

Canon XSI 34K Shutters.

Which one should i keep and which one to sell?

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Why would you bother to sell one? Since they're both old cameras, either is at risk of failure. You won't get enough for either one to offset its value as a spare for the other. And if you have more than one lens, there are times when it can be useful to have two cameras operational at once.