Help w Canon 450D issue

[JRally]

Hello!

Just joined up and hoping you guys might shine a light on a problem I'm having with one of my camera bodies. I don't use it much anymore but it would be nice to have it fully operational again.

The basics of it, it acts as if the magnify (-) out button is stuck down. In various auto mode it looks like the attached photo. And when reviewing photos it won't zoom in at all.

Any ideas on if this can be fixed up easily on the cheap? Obviously I'll spend some money, but at some point it'll be cheaper to replace it.

 

[TCampbell]

You may have something shorting the connection on the button contact. For example... if you spilled something on the camera and it worked it's say in. The 450D is not "weather-sealed" so there are no gaskets or o-rings to protect against this sort of thing.

You can try the following...

(1) remove the battery from the camera
(2) get some de-natured alcohol and put a few drops on the offending button (in your case the zoom out "-" button).
(3) press the button many times to work in the alcohol
(4) let the camera sit for a while to allow the alcohol evaporate (probably at least 30 minutes)
(5) put the battery back in and test it.

There are "contact cleaner" solvents for electronics which might be even more effective than alcohol and while that might work better, you have to be careful with these because some of them cause discoloring to plastics, etc. so you want to use something safe. These cleaners are solvents that will eliminate gunk but should fully evaporate and leave no residue of the cleaning solvent itself (the gunk isn't going to evaporate... really it just gets pushed to the side where it's less likely to be a problem. To really clean the contact would require disassembly and that might be more than you want to do.)

If you choose to upgrade to a newer camera, Canon has a "loyalty program" that requires you call Canon service and ask about it. They allow you to trade in your old camera body (working or not - they don't care) toward a credit on a newer camera. But you can't get just "any" camera on the loyalty program. They change the options all the time (usually you have a choice of 2 or 3 different camera bodies that they'll offer... and they'll tell you if it's a "new" body or "refurbished" body.) I mention this because if you have a non-working camera, the loyalty program is typically the cheapest way to get an updated camera that has a manufacturer's warranty (it's usually a little cheaper than buying a refurbished camera and a lot cheaper than buying a new camera.)

 

[JRally]

Thanks I'll give it a shot, it hasn't seen any spills, but it has seen plenty of weather and dust. I already have another body, it'd just be nice to revive this one too.