shutter release not working S100

[sandysorlien]

Hello,

I am suddenly having problems with my S100. It will not take the picture when I press the shutter release. In case I had accidentally changed something, I did a Reset to Defaults. Then it worked, briefly, before returning to not working. It also would not let me change My Colors.  Everything else seems to be working fine.  Any ideas?

[tronnebonne]

Hi John,

Update. I went to a camera store that sells CANON and other cameras. They have confirmed it's a shutter error and nothing to do with the "lens error" annoucement that was posted publicly by CANON. John, I showed them your post regarding "FPC". The canon sales guy simply shaked his head and said it as just unfortunate we all have this problem with the camera. He noted that this FPC problem isn't because of the camera owners. I know a forum member mentioned they practically "babied" their S100 🙂

He mentioned the problem could be that a tiny piece wasn't soldered properly for a mass number of CANON S100. And that it would be very very difficult for humans to repair this ourselves since this was made by machinery.

I'll send CANON another email with this new information. What are the rest of you doing? 

Cheerio,

Tronne

[ianyoung]

I'm now the proud owner of a Sony Nex-5N. The dead Canon S100 is sitting in my desk drawer; I'm not sending it in to be repaired until Canon gives some sort of public advice about the situation.

Ian

[tronnebonne]

Dang. That sucks you had to buy another camera......

I hope they have an announcement about it.

Like they did for their 'lens error' one. Thanks for confining that the problem we are having is different. That gives me some hope they'll have another announcement about it...

Hopefully with our serial numbers!

[AngelaX]

A public notice for the S100 shutter release issue.... That we should live that long....
I was in a local Canadian camera store last week for another Canon purchase. That store did not stock the S100. Is it still in production?

[tronnebonne]

Good point Angela. 🙂

The store stocks Canon S120s now. Which is pretty much the same as S100 but beefed up. I just don't think I should have to sink another $380 for something that's not my mistake.

[tronnebonne]

Angela did you decide on your course of action? Canon still hasn't gotten back to me.

[John_]

If the cameras looks similar I would stay away from it and select a different series.

Angela may be right it I do not expect Canon to do anything about this which is sad. I think they already know the reason for the chronic shutter button failure also the lens error. It may be a can of worms they do not want to open.

Tronnebonne depending on which component is the source resoldering it might not be as difficult as he said. The actual shutter switch has larger solder joints and can be carefully resolderer.

[tronnebonne]

That's unfortunate about canon. I thought they'd actually do simmering about a problem that's this will known....

I wonder if s100s successors s110 s120 are having the same problems,....

John I guess I have nothing to lose if I take a look. I have no idea where to start investigating about fixing this. My friend does have a soldering machine.

[socaljd]

I, too, own this infamous S100 frustrating canon. First purchased as a backup to my SLR, I soon found I was using it all the time. The best camera I have ever owned. (not now!) A few weeks ago I started having the same symptoms all of you on this particular forum have had. Frustrating! I have read every message on Canon’s $400 faulty camera. I had tried every suggested potential cure. I am not going to go thru the Canon fix by spending effort and money on this faulty product. That said, let me tell you what I did do that is interesting. Trying everything short of throwing the camera in a bucket of water, I flipped open the Audio Video Output flap on the right side of the camera and put my mouth tightly over the opening and blew two or three times hard into the camera. I know, moisture and all that stuff, but frustration rules!. I have not had any problems since! Each day for the last week or so I take many pictures, Turn the camera off and on continuously, Leave it in the Sun, keep it in the fridge, and abuse it in a way I would NEVER do before the failure of the shutter. This past weekend I went to a club gathering and took over 200 pictures ( all times, flash, low light, everything I could think of) I must have turned the camera off and on a jillion times. The camera worked and still works perfectly. I know, this will not continue. I do not , nor will I ever, trust this camera, however, I cannot get this camera not to work! I now use my SLR as a backup! How strange! Canon is NOT the same company!

[John_]

tronnebonne you dont have much to lose and I would do the same thing in your postion. Just keep track of the screws and where they came from. Some of them are very small and with differences in size thats hard to detect with the eye..like 0.5mm in length and or width.

I'm already anxious to see what you find out.

There was a recent post by socaljd who blew into that AV port and amazingly his camera began to work again. I can only guess that he exerted enough air pressure to push the FPC board back up into postion to where the button now can reach it. An air compressor set at about 15-20 PSI to start might also do the same.

That has been my best guess all along, that board with the switch comes loose in some manner.

best of results and luck to you and be sure to post the results, with pictures perhaps, not taken with an S100 of course.