Canon Camera Repair (E-18 Error)

"E18" WTF! E18 is actually Canon Camera-ese for:

"Ha ha, you got screwed! You thought you had this awesome camera that was really cool and took great pictures and movies at high resolution and was durable, reliable, and easy to use, but small and sleek so you could take it anywhere, and had good software and applications to boot, and sexy in all ways a brushed steel camera can be, and did I mention reliable? Yeah scratch that. I meant reliable until your 1 year warranty runs out, then it's strait to E-18 town for me!"

E18 in English of course means: Error 18 - Lens Operation Error pertaining to any Canon Camera that has exceeded its warranty and thus is not valid for any factory repair unless you pay $150.

I used to love my camera, I would tell everyone considering buying a digital camera to buy a Canon, but those bastards betrayed me. Worse, I was betrayed thrice, Judas. My last Canon Camera had the E18 error. I sent it in and it turns out it was conveinently past its warranty. So I shelled $200 for an upgrade to a newer model (instead of paying $150 to get my camera repaired). This was my first mistake. The new camera was cooler, better, smaller, and had better resolution, so I was stoaked. I went on a trip around the world and toted my camera around, but on the Hangzhou lake (xi hua [West Lake]) the camera suddenly stopped working and in the bottom of the black screen was the ominous "E18" mark. Angryily I took it out on the Chinese, vowing never to speek in Chinese to them and being Extreemly American to each and every person on my way back to my hotel. I asked for ketchup with every meal, flagrantly wore a cowboy hat, and was tall. Luckily my warranty had not yet run out. Unluckily (i'll explain later) I was able to fix the camera by replacing the battery and 'jiggling' the lens a bit with a rocking motion and being really really American to it. So now my camera was working and I got glorious pictures of the rest of my trip. I came to America, quit being so damn American, and started med school (see the first post of this blog). Enter the month of November. E18 strikes again. "But camera, we were so close. After I nursed you back to health and you served me so well, why are you doing this to me?" I asked, but what I didn't realize is not only do cameras not talk, but I also my warranty with Canon had just expired. I sent the camera to Canon anyway, hoping they would fix it (perhaps by accident thinking it was covered, or maybe just because it was around Christmas time). This was stupid. Clearly this was another opportunity for Canon to exploit me and get more money on an annual basis correlating quite precisely to my warranty expiration. I told them to go to Hell and acted really American to every person I called. None of them budged. Finally they shipped me back my camera, still broken. I wasn't going to pay another $150 to $200 to that Un-American company.

Enter Nicholas' brilliance. I'll fix it myself! And so I did. I took apart every last pice of that camera, and in retrospect, it is an amazingly intracate and well engineered camera. I mean to be able to put all those circuit boards and connections, lenses and screens, etc in that small case, and still have the amazing feature of spontaneously breaking once the warranty period has passed is genius. I got all the way to the lens and cleaned out the rails and cogs and all moving parts. I even oiled it up just a tad. Then I put it back together (I had one extra part, but then again you always do when you do this kind of work. I was hoping it was the E18 initializer part). But to no avail, the camera did the very same thing: power on... black screen... E18. I hate you Canon. I hate you E18.


Addendum:
Re-reading this post, I fear I came of a bit racist... that's not the case. Frustrated would be the correct term.

I figured a good addendum was to point out that I decided because of Canon's poor quality, warranty policies, and service, I bought a Nikon D70 digital SLR. Had my experiences not been so unsatisfactory with Canon, I certainly would have purchased a Canon Digital Rebel. The $1,500 + that I spent could have gone to canon, as well as plenty of future business with lens upgrades / replacements and accessories from Canon in the years to come. On the other hand I don't have enough spare change after this purchase to buy a new compact digital point and shoot like I had before.

Although the thought did cross my mind that I could buy a canon camera, and just before the warranty ran out I could induce an E-18 error simply by pressing my thumb against the lens while it is powering on. Then send it in and get my camera fixed and the warranty extedned for 6 more months. But somehow that sounds a bit silly to me, and instead should get a camera that simply doesn't have such flagrant problems.

~Nic

More Information on E-18 Error:
There is actually a class action law suit going on right now with the Girard Gibbs Lawfirm and the form is linked in case you have has similar problems and grievances: Canon PowerShot Investigation.

I would also like to direct you to the website of Vladan Nikolic, E-18 Error, which does a great job of cataloging the experiences and perspectives of others who have had such problems. It also gives resources for ways to repair your camera, etc. Check it out.