Will ya help? Casio EX-Z1050 blinking green light is only function. Crappy daughter!

**JerryBlank** · 04-30-2010, 11:26 PM

This Casio EX-Z1050 was in excellent condition, until…

Today I was getting ready to take a picture with this Casio EX-Z1050, but it then slipped out of my hands (butter-free believe it or not) just after I turned the unit on, luckily (or maybe not so lucky) I caught it before any impact could occur. The catch was from a fall length of about 8 inches only (average sized human, but I was sitting down), so I can’t understand for the life of me why this camera is completely non-functional now.

The Symptoms:
The green light on the back and towards the top of the camera blinks continuously; this seems to be the cameras beating heart on an otherwise brain-dead vessel.

The lens is now stuck in the extended position and will not retract.

None of the buttons work and neither does the LCD preview screen.

So basically nothing seems to work except for this little green light…wow…what an expensive light bulb. It’s so mystical; I could watch it for hours...

THINGS I’VE TRIED:
1. I removed the card and the battery then pressed all the buttons (sounded stupid at the time and now I see why). I left it alone for 20 minutes. Then I inserted the card, then the battery and turned the camera on. This was supposed to be a "hard reset".

RESULTS:
No change! Except for increasing frustration.

2. I tried tapping the unit on the palm of my hand (not too hard) to hopefully jar something back in place? I don’t know, I was just trying everything I could find in the forums. I would have read poetry and kissed it a little too, if I read that it might help. "O great-invisible-digital-leader, I am at your mercy"

RESULTS:
No change! Except for added frustration and doubts in the helpfulness of some internet forums. Not this one, of course...umm...you all are wonderful, I'm sure

HELP ME, PLEASE:

If anyone has a solution for this problem, please let me know as soon as possible as this is my loving mother’s camera and she’s going to be completely heartbroken when I tell her that I’ve broken it and my non-working, broke-a** (just like the camera :thumbsup

can’t afford to buy her another one.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thank you kindly in advance and remember; if you’re not gainfully employed, DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING!!

PS. Happy Mother's Day
/hangs head in shame
.
.

**SmartWombat** · 05-01-2010, 12:50 AM

It depends how you caught it, and if you jarred the lens when it happened.
It doesn't take a large fall, if it lands the wrong way, to jam up that kind of lens.

Then you switch the camera on, it expects to find the lens is retracted, and it will try to move the lens out. If it finds the lens isn't moving at all, it may well just give up and flash the light as a warning ... as if you couldn't see that the lens was already out !

How cameras cope with this differs from camera to camera.
My old Panasonic actually puts up a message telling me there is a lens problem.
Yours seems to be terminally confused.

Inside that extending lens barrel mechanism are small gears and a motor, and it all relies on everything moving the right way at the right time. It doesn't take much to upset it when the lens is extended, when it's collapsed into the camera and switched off it's more robust.

Ideas:
1) can you switch it on and off with the power switch ?
If it won't switch off, then you can't help it to retract the lens.

2) does it make any noises as you switch it on ?
If it does, and it's trying to move the lens, then gently pulling or pushing on the front part of the lens barrel (not the glass) as you switch it on may assist the motor.
It could be the lens is not all the way out, and sticking because things aren't lined up right, then pulling gently may help.

It's like a puzzle, inside a box, where you have to shake, prod, and cajole it into putting all the pieces in the right order without opening the box.

**JerryBlank** · 05-01-2010, 05:42 AM