sony cybershot dscp 200 camera - damaged needs repairs

[shynsingh]

Hi

Please help
I own a sony dscp200 and dropped it onto the tiled kitchen floor on saturday evening, the camera is damaged and will not work, it turns on, but the lens will not automatically retract when i turn the camera off. Unable to take pictures, error message E61:00 comes up. Can anyone advise on where to take it to ask if it is repairable. It is 20 months old and out of guarantee.

Is this a lost cause?
Thank you in advance for any suggestions
S

[ush flynn]

you might find that the basic charge for a repair is going to be around £60 £80 and that might cover a firmware flash but if it needs parts fitted then its going to cost over £100
IME (repairs through jessops) it just wasnt worth it sometimes

[shynsingh]

Thank you for the advice, I agree, it doesn't seem worth it, Jessops here are asking for £175 to "repair" it they say this is their standard charge for any sony digital camera.

I may have to go through the home contents insurance i think.

Thank you again.
S

[ush flynn]

if jessops ask for 175 then it means sony are asking for near on 100, jessops will never tell you what sony are charging because they stick thier own charge on for the trouble and to pay for couriers and admin and probably the paper and ink to send a letter to you!

[tdodd]

You can get a brand new P200 from Argos for £185....

http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/photogr.../285181/prices

Speaking as the owner of a P200 myself, and rather disappointed with the camera, I'd spend the money on something else like the Canon Ixus 800 IS, which my girlfriend has and it is a fantastic little camera.

My issues with the P200 are that it fills with specks of dust and these appear clearly visible on the photos. I'm not the only owner to have reported this problem.

Blemishes on pictures with Sony DSCP200
http://www.dcresource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10559
http://www.dcresource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25863

Also, in less than optimum light the camera picks really stupid combinations of ISO, aperture and shutter speed, which are almost guaranteed to yield camera shake. This is a problem also reported by many owners. It can take great pictures in the right conditions but for everyday use under a range of lighting it is a poor performer unless you take additional care to avoid camera shake. That is not what the average point and shoot photographer should have to do.

Comments on dust issues and blurry photos here....

http://photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00DVep

Actually just do a Google for <P200 dust blur> and you'll see this camera can be a bit of a lemon. Shame the reviews never mentioned it when the camera came out. http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourc...p200+dust+blur

Well some good news - in researching my reply I came across instructions for dismantling the P200 and cleaning the camera here....

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/re...ssage=18038181

I have followed them to the letter and sure enough my dust problem is fixed, for the time being at least. Of course that does nothing to improve on the stupid automatic choice of shutter speed by the camera but at least it's a start. Performing the procedure was not easy because I didn't have the right watchmakers' screwdriver and had to improvise. Some screws were very very stiff but I got there in the end.

[shynsingh]

Hi tdodd

I had forgotten about my original posts on here re the camera,(been so long ago etc) but today whilst generally surfing theses forums I came across this thread from a while ago.and went back to read it, I have just seen your reply that was sent on 22/11/06 for the first time today.

I just wanted to say a big thank you for taking the time and effort to post an answer for me. I have read your answer today and wished I had looked at it earlier, the links are very useful.

Thanks