PowerShot G9 shutter not going faster then 1/5s

[chris997]

Hi everyone

I recently got a Canon G9 from eBay, and I was pretty happy that it worked at first. However, every shot turned out blurry. I thought maybe these cameras just weren’t that sharp — but then I compared it to a Fujifilm E900 I had lying around, and that one is way, way sharper. So I started investigating.

I noticed that when I press the shutter button, I hear two distinct but very quiet clicking sounds:

• One a moment after I press the button

• And another one less than a second later

Could this be the shutter? I thought the G9 had an electronic shutter, but it seems it actually has a mechanical one. If those clicks are the shutter opening and closing, why isn’t it clicking immediately when I press the button?

When I decrease the shutter speed, the time between the two clicks gets longer — but the delay from pressing the button to hearing the first click also increases. After some testing, I found that this delay doesn’t get any shorter below about 1/5s shutter speed (maybe a bit more or less). So even if I set the shutter speed to 1/500s in full manual mode, the clicks don’t get any faster, however it increases when going slower than 1/5s shutter speed

I already tried resetting all the settings. Is there something else I might have missed? Or does this sound like a failing shutter or sticky blades that can’t move quickly enough?

Unfortunately, today is my last day to open a dispute, so you guys are my last hope to figure this out and hopefully avoid returning the camera.

Any advice or experience would be really appreciated!

Thanks so much!

[Waddizzle]

Disougte it and get a refund.  Document the serial number.

[chris997]

I would like to avoid returning it if possible but if there is no other option, yes I will return it.

Thanks for your answer. Do you have any idea if this is a faulty shutter or might something else? 

[Waddizzle]

My advice is to return it. It is not worth the hassle to repair.  It’s not worth attempting on your own.  It takes two hands to take apart and as many as eight hands to put back together.