Anybody handy with digital cameras?

[Ginger]

I've had this fujifilm A825 since 2007 and it finally crapped out on me yesterday. ;-;


Most of my pictures now look like this:
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Others turn out to be almost pure white.


Just curious if you have any idea as to what it is? At first I thought something was on the lens, so I cleaned it, and that didn't turn out to be the case. I'm trying to figure out if it'll be worth fixing, but I'm so stupid when it comes to this stuff that I'm having difficulty making out my search results.

[Kiwi]

Hmm, I'm not sure, but I'll give you a bump I know we have some shutterbugs around here.

[mlpfan]

I don't think there is anything you can do

[kaoskat]

Not a clue but i think it looks kinda neat.

[Talismarr]

I don't know a whole lot about cameras, but when my DSLR quit working I actually took it to a camera repair shop and they fixed it for a fraction of the price of purchasing a new camera. Now, a point and shoot camera doesn't cost as much as an SLR does, but I would suggest taking it in somewhere and getting an estimate or talking to an expert and see what they have to say. If it turns out not costing a whole lot to fix it, you could do that and then still get some more use out of it. If that's not a big deal to you, then you may just have to purchase a new camera altogether. Good luck!

[Fezzy]

It's probably worth taking it to a shop and asking what they can do but it could be a hardware problem because of its age that they can't fix.
I've found that fujifilm cameras are pretty tough - my current one's stood up to a lot of punishment in the year and a half I've had it - but nothing's immortal. I hope they can fix it!

[Ginger]

Thank you for your responses!!! From what I've been finding, it could be a failing digital sensor. I'll try to find a shop to take it too, because I really don't have $150+ for a new one.

kaoskat, LOL! It would make a neato old-fashioned style photo

[DoctorMowinckel]

I doubt it's worth getting it fixed. A285's aren't worth much these days, and the cost of taking it apart and seeing what's wrong with it would probably be close to (or surpass) the value of the camera.

It most likely has a CCD censor, that's the budget censors that's in most digital cameras. CMOS, CCD, and APS-C, censors all work under the same principle; light goes into the lens, then gets focused onto a light sensitive censor that then captures the image. Each censor is covered in near microscopic light sensitive circuits. The more light sensitive circuits, the higher the resolution, more 'megapixels'. But more megapixels isn't always better, the quality of the censor is just as, if not more important. If you're shooting on a cheap 10mp censor, you'll get shots that are big enough for an 8x10 print, but when they're full size, you'll get all the blemishes and all the digital artifacts that come with all digital images. As technology gets better, you can get bigger shots with less artifacts, which is why things like the Canon EOS 1DX, and Nikon D4 cost 6k+.

Now that you have the basic idea of how digital cameras capture images, there are lots of things that could be wrong. It could be that the ribbon cable which connects the censor to the circuit board on the camera has come loose or become damaged, or that the censor itself has been damaged. If it's the former, and you're handy with jewellers screwdrivers and tiny screws, you can crack it open and see if you can detach, and reattach the ribbon cable. It's possible that the cable that connects the censor to the PCB (printed circuit board) is hard soldered on there, and isn't a readily detachable cable. If that were the case, good luck. The individual contacts on ribbon cables are tiny, less than 24 gauge. That's the type of wire only someone with really steady hands, or a lot of soldering experience (think electrical engineers) can mend.

I don't know if you're using internal memory and are bouncing it to your computer via USB, or if you're using a flash card, but if it's the latter, it could be that there's something wrong in the connection between the flash memory card and the camera itself. If that's the case, try bouncing shots to the onboard memory (if it has it), and transferring that.

There's a lot of things it could be, but I'd say the most likely problem is the censor. Either the censor itself has gone kaput, or the connector to the censor has been dislodged or damaged.

Taking it to a specialist and having them look at it would likely cost $30+ to open it up and have a look, then any repairs or replacement parts would end up costing more than the cameras worth. If you're not the kind of person who's comfortable with opening it up and checking connections yourself, I'd buy another digital camera. Poke around craigslist, thrift stores, and ask some friends if they have any old digital cameras they're not using anymore.

[melodys_angel]

That looks like the resolution just shot completely down the drain.  Would have to agree that there must be a sensor inside thats out of allignment or broken

[Talismarr]

When I took my camera in it cost $160 to fix, but that was much cheaper than $1000+ for a new one! It's up to you, I suppose you could take it in and simply ask what it may cost to check it out before you hand it over. They might be able to say what it would cost to look at it, and then if they can quickly diagnose a problem based on what you tell them (as DrMowinckel has done) give a ballpark "it could cost up to this much to fix", it might end up being more than the cost of just replacing it.

[Ginger]

Wow, THANK YOU DoctorMowinckle!! That was very thorough and helpful. I flip flop between both the flashcard and USB. I played around with it and don’t think the connection is the cause. I was hoping it was the screen that is defective (I could deal with that) but the image is corrupt no matter where it goes.

I’m feeling pretty confident today, so will open it up and see. I don’t think I’ll take it to the repair shop now, I just looked it up and could replace mine used for $25-$75 LOL. I’ll just borrow my mom’s camera for now and save up money.

Thanks for the help, everyone!!

[DoctorMowinckel]

The censor might be hardsoldered to the PCB, if that's the case, well, see if there's anything out of alignment with it, and try to readjust it. If it's a ribbon cable, it might be easy.

All digital cameras are different, I have no idea what you're going to find when you open yours up.