I am the happy owner of a wonderful camera that takes beautiful pictures. We’ve had it for just over a year. And then, while on vacation, it stopped working. The lens wouldn’t retract into the casing, and an error message appeared on the LCD screen: E18. I’m not so happy anymore.
We could still view and download the images on the card, but the camera would not shoot pictures, and when turned off, the lens was stuck more than halfway out.
The sad thing was, of course, that the SD500 was out of warranty by a month and we didn’t buy the extended warranty when we purchased it. We’d had our previous camera, a Canon Powershot S110, for 4 years without any problems and trusted Canon to make good cameras.
A call to Canon Camera Support didn’t help that much, the cost of repair is $119 (with 40 days warranty on the repair) or I could get a refurbished model for $199 (with 6 months warranty). A new SD500 costs $250 at Amazon, and then I get a full year’s warranty! I think I saw it at Costco recently for $230, but then I’d have to pay taxes of course.
I feel mostly tempted to get a new camera and “start over” (we already own and love the underwater case for this camera), but should I get an extended warranty as well? A 2 year plan costs $30 and doesn’t get any good reviews. In any case, a cheap “warranty” in keeping my camera safe from dust and scratches would be a soft leather carrying case!
April 3rd, 2007 at 5:37 pm
Hvis du får denne mailen kan du kanskje skrive…
May 6th, 2007 at 11:28 am
Well,
I wanted to warn you about the soft leather case. Because I had that case but my canon powershot SD500 LCD screen had cracked in it. I was very surprised that this happened.Very slight shock had caused this and I could not view anything on it. but I know everything else works b/c I can take pictures and videos through viewfinder and it looks fine when viewed on computer. Of course my warranty had expired two months beofre it happened. I bought new SD800. Funny thing was that I was very happy with SD500 until it broke.
SD800 is greater but personally feels cheaper and less sturdy. Image stabilizer doesn’t surpass my expectation especially under low light.
Anyhoo, I asked for repair and some third party vendor said $150 for it. Canon estimate $127 for standard repair but I am not sure if this includes for my specific needs or just for look at my camera. As we all know, I can get it at under $250 now. Though, I originally paid $450.
I am going to repair with $150 place and give/donate for good cause.
Best,
Sarah
May 20th, 2008 at 11:39 am
My SD800 lens is stuck out as well. I bought it online 5 months December 15, it just now malfunctoned May 20. I am not sure if it’s under warranty. Did I have to send in a form.
May 20th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
It should still be under warranty, Canon usually has 1 year warranty. You will have to contact Cannon directly, there should be info in your box about that, if you kept it all! Otherwise, visit Canon’s website, they might have info some there. Good luck!
June 9th, 2008 at 10:25 am
If it is out of warranty, and you are planning to get a new one anyways, you might be able to take it apart and fix it. There are several sites showing likely causes of the error. Just search for Canon and error 18. I just fixed our SD500 after it had the same error (see post on our blog.)
http://azaddinks.blogspot.com/2008/06/there-are-benefits.html
June 9th, 2008 at 10:57 am
Thanks for sharing your experience! I want to repair my camera too now, after all, it would be great to have an extra camera. And I loved my SD500, it took great pictures.
July 18th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
I bought 2 powershots, S2 IS and S5 IS, and after the warranty was up, both have E18 and the lens is stuck in the out position. Has Anyone found anything that helps.