Beyond Midnight Blog » Blog Archive

Canon E18

June 19 2006

4 Comments

I was debating between the Canon S430 or the Samsung S500 camera.

Thinking, thinking, thinking…

My first camera, my second and my third camera was the Canon Powershot S30. I fell victim to the E18 error not once, not twice but thrice!

When my first Canon S30, bought in 2002, got the error, I thought it was something I did and simply went on eBay and got another camera. Since I had a working charger and CF card, I bought a camera only with no accessories. A few months later, the second one got E18, and I again went on eBay and bought another S30. A few months after that, my THIRD Canon S30 got the E18 error.

All this was in 2003-2005. I thought by now they would have solved this problem by 2006. I did some research and it seems that they have not, and all Canon cameras have the potential of E18.

Since I’ve had to deal with it three times on the same model camera, I am done with Canon Digital Cameras forever. How do so many people have Canon cameras that don’t get the E18? For me, the error has appeared 100% of the time.

I say, dont get a Canon Digital camera for it is a good chance you will be shit out of luck when your camera get the E18 at a most inconvient time. Its very frustrating. Sure other cameras crap out, Im sure all digital cameras will die eventually. But when it is a design flaw in the camera, and the manufacture refuses to acknowledge the issue or do anything about it…well…just dont get Canon.

4 Comments »

July 19
2006
8:44 am

Vladan Nikolic said:

Hi,

Sorry to hear that about your cameras. You were really unlucky. However, there are some simple methods you can try for fixing your cameras. Since you’ve done so much research on the subject, I guess you already know about them, but if you don’t, or if you have any other questions about E18, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

I actually experienced a similar problem a few months ago, so I did some
research on the subject, and found some simple repair methods for E18.
I also built a web site on the subject and am in contact with a number of people who had the same problem, so perhaps their experiences could be useful to you.

Regards,

July 19
2006
12:33 pm

Administrator (author) said:

Thanks for the comment.

I have been to your site, back when I was using the cameras. I forgot to mention that previously. And some of the suggestions did help. For all my cameras, they would get the E18, and I tried something mentioned and then the camera worked. But a little while later I got the E18 all over again.

For all the cameras, I did what I could to a point, and then they wouldn’t work anymore. I two of my three cameras are stuck with the lens out forever.

While your site and a couple others did help with the E18, what like more than the suggestions is a camera that produces just as good images and will not get an E18.

Even my Vivtar Vivicam that just died (can’t take photos any more. It turns on, but all images are black), that doesn’t bother me as much as seeing an E18.

Hope your site helps those that can avoid seeing the E18 message again, but I must have the E18 touch…unfortunately

April 5
2008
1:00 pm

MagnoliaVillage said:

A couple weeks ago, we got screwed by this issue on our first day of vacation. Managed to get one picture taken before the camera died. I thought maybe the batteries were going dead, but after replacing them found that the issue persisted. Checked on-line to see if others were impacted by this issue. Sadly, there are thousands who are bitten by this bug and Canon doesn’t give a rat’s ass. Actually, Canon takes the stand that you, the consumer, must have abused the camera and that it’s YOUR fault. They will happily “fix” your camera or sell you a refurbished one, but getting a refund or fixing it for free is something they are unwilling to do. This the second camera of the same model (A630) to fail (the first suffered from a different problem and was under warranty), but to have two fail in the same year is unacceptable. Even though the camera had a number of features we liked, like you (and many others), I will never buy another Canon.

For more info on the problem, you can visit the following links.

http://www.e18error.com/posts/index.php
http://e18.bitnet.cx/comments.php
http://consumeraffairs.com/cameras/canon_e18.html

April 5
2008
1:02 pm

MagnoliaVillage said:

If you require an email address before posting comments (I just submitted mine), I’ve provided my email address.