Easily Fix Jammed Camera Lens

So you just turned on your nice digital camera and the lens is stuck shut. If you're lucky, there is just a grain of sand or dirt stuck in the lens.

If you dropped or otherwise damaged your camera, these instructions might not work...

I am not responsible if you damage your camera while attempting to follow these simple instructions!

Step 1: Step One

Tools:

Scotch Tape.

Tear off a piece of scotch tape about three inches long.

Step 2: Step Two

 Fold the tape as shown so that the middle section is stuck to itself.

Step 3: Step Three

Stick the folded piece of tape firmly to the closed lens.
If the tape hangs past the edge of the lens, refold.

Press the power button on your camera.

GENTLY pull on the tape to help the camera as it tries to open the lens.

All fixed! (Hopefully.)

Comments

[PaulO1212]

For info, this has helped me (I had a DSLR camera with a stuck and bent lens)... good luck guys and gals!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4K1Ge5COW8&list=PLPz-I0BhXRDI1l8fTZTKJS-ymHxwp06hu

[ikmattias]

Great tip! I thought my camera was ruined and needed to be opened.

Regards,
Mattias Karlsson

[lennyb]

good idea. gonna try it myself next time it comes up.
mostly when digital camera lenses fail to open its because of a broken {or jammed}tooth on one of the small plastic gears inside.
this repair will not make the situation above any worse.
when it catches again if its able to home the lens properly then it will work for a while until it strikes the same bad patch again.
usually the repair guys will replace the entire mechanism and in some cases the whole camera.
good idea.

[drooval]

 Yep - from what I've heard, the cost of repair is often more than the camera is worth, and more than half of what it would cost to buy a new camera.
I would guess that if a camera is worth less than $200 it's not worth paying to fix.

[Scott_Tx]

I had my old Fuji jam on me way back but it skipped some gears trying to close. I never could get it to work. Being an instructables type person I took it apart anyways. It was a complete loss.