Failure to switch to shoot mode - Canon S50

[alijtaylor]

I have occassionally had a problem with my canon s50. It is in the housing, the retractable slide cover is retracted from the lens and the camera will turn on.. But it will only turn on to replay mode and won't swith to shoot mode. It has happened to me maybe 1/2 dozen time in three years (approx 180 dives) so if I think about it I now check just before I enter the water that it will turn on in shoot mode.

The last time it happened someone I was diving with pointed out the problem and said it was not uncommon with other canons with the rectratible slide. If the slide is not retracted completely although it looks like the lens cover it is open, it has not clicked fully home into the open position, and the camera still thinks it is closed so you can replay shots (just as you can with the slide completely closed) but you cannot shoot. It is just another variation on the old leaving the lens cover on problem but because it looks open and you can't feel that is not because of the housing it had me beat.

I thought I would post the problem and the solution here in case anyone else has suffered.

Alison

 

[alcina]

Thanks for posting this potentially irritating problem! I've added the model # to your title so others can search more easily.

 

[Sask]

I have the S50 and when I open the slide the lens comes out and the camera turns on. I put it in my housing like this and after a few minutes it powers down. When I start it in the housing it has always powered up. My lens cover makes a distinctive click when it is opened all the way. Maybe yours is worn a little from all those dives? The only problem I have had is the housing buttons are a little hard to use if I am diving in cold water with thick gloves.

 

[skynscuba]

I just got a lightly used S50, which does not yet show any problem. My girlfriend's S40 has a bad/intermittant switch in the lens cover slide, and will often turn itself off. I think it is not a very reliable design. Her S40 also has a problem with the multifunction switch. It has been used a fair amount, but not heavily.