We live in a throw-away society, it’s a simple fact. You buy that brand new fancy digital camera with all the bells and whistles for $400, and in 6 months to 1 year it’s worth maybe half that, and then the unthinkable happens: you drop it and it breaks. The LCD is cracked, or the lens is jammed; what do you do? You go back to there store where you bought it and the kid working there that knows next to nothing about cameras to begin with, let alone camera repair, tells you to throw it in the garbage and it’s not fixable. And so you feel the manufacturer is to blame for the problem, you throw away the camera and instead look to buy another made by a different company.

There are always alternatives to every problem including this one. Honest! It may cost you $100 to fix your camera, and yes you can buy a new camera these days for $100 at some places, but what sort of quality do you think you will get from a $100 camera? You shouldn’t expect high quality that’s for sure, because you won’t be getting it.

#1 – Broken/cracked LCD screen.

I found it difficult to decide between broken lens repair and cracked LCD screen repair for #1, but I choose the LCD because it can be broken so easily that you can do it without even touching the camera!

The LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) is the view screen on the back of the camera that lets you see menus, playback pictures etc. An LCD screen is a very thin and fragile part of the camera and on many of them it is completely unprotected! Look at the back of your camera, is the screen recessed slightly or is the back of the camera flat and smooth? If it’s flat you have a protective ‘window’ or ‘glass’ over the LCD to help prevent damage and breakage. It there is no protective window over the LCD screen then you should invest in a good LCD screen protector made from acrylic plastic and not the silly, useless ‘Saran Wrap’ protectors you always see as they are a waste of money.

- Don’t leave your camera in your car in summer or winter. Excessive high tempertures could cause the LCD to expand such that it cracks, and conversely extremely low temperture could cause it to freeze!

- Don’t ever put anything pressing against your LCD screen in your camera bag, as it can crack the LCD screen (yes even if there is a window over it there is a chance it will break!)

- Don’t put your camera in your back pocket and then sit down!

- Don’t store your camera in your pants pocket, it can easily break from the pressure.

- … Just avoid putting the camera in your pants pocket completely. =)

Ok, so it’s broken, what do you do now?

- The manufacturer will just site impact damage and will refuse the repair even if the camera wasn’t dropped etc. You can still try, but they will most likely not fix it.

- Search for defective cameras on eBay and use one to repair yours and make one good camera out of them.

- Look for an actual camera repair business and not somebody that will send it to the manufacturer and tell you it’s $200 and 4-6 weeks to repair. (If they tell you this, they are NOT repairing your camera for you, they are sending it to the manufacturer, guaranteed)

Many LCD screens are very easy to install and you can do it yourself and all you need is a small screwdriver. Other LCD’s are very difficult to install, and even professionals don’t like to do them! I can’t tell you Brand …. is the best and Brand … is the worst, it’s really not like that. Certain SERIES of cameras have 1 or 2 models that are difficult to work on, yet the rest of them are fairly straight forward. You will have to figure out if you want to try opening your camera and repairing it by yourself or not.

How is an LCD replaced?

With most Canon camera LCD repair for example (using them as the example because they have the largest market share) all you do is disconnect the ribbon cable for the LCD and the backlight (the light that shines through the LCD and allows you to see what is on the screen) and then install the new LCD. Some come with the backlight attached, some do not. Sometimes the LCD backlight will need soldering to the PCB of the camera or to the LCD ribbon cable, but most often it will not.

- Be sure to never touch the flash capacitor contacts! You WILL zap yourself if you do, and it will HURT a bit. You will probably throw your camera across the room when it happens. (Yes I have done it, I have been repairing digi cams for about 5yrs so….) We have ‘flash capacitor dischargers’ and use them every time we open a camera.

My wish is that I have helped you to understand the subject of digital camera repair. You do not have to throw your camera away because the LCD is broken, and you can even fix it yourself!