I recently bought the Canon SD1000 digital camera. It’s a very compact digital camera that takes a decent picture. However, because it’s so compact is has problems with the mechanical function of the lens. Everything is so tightly fit together that the lens often gets stuck in the extended or closed position. It seems Canon has pushed compactness beyond their engineering limits.

If you are considering this camera, do Google search on: Canon SD1000 lens error
You will get ~19,500 results

Here’s my story:

After 3 months we got this dreaded Cannon SD1000 lens error. Shortly after buying this camera, we tooksome pictures of a beach and unfortunately left the san diskcard in the camera when sending it in for warranty repair. This gave Canon an instant “sand in camera” excuse.

Before sending it in I read about the Cannon lens error problem, so I used compressed air in the battery compartment and around the lens to make sure it was 100% clean.

A few days after sending it in for warranty repair, I got an email from Canon Service saying the camera had sand in the battery compartment and they would not cover it under warranty. They also said they opened the camera and sand poured out from the inside of the camera. If you look at the design of this camera, things are so tightly fit together, there is no way that enough sand could every get inside it to “pour” out. I also take great care of my electronic gadgets and would never expose a digital camera to the kind of abuse that would cause this kind of a problem.

Because the camera was full of sand they wanted $98 to fix it (Best Buy is selling it new for $150).

I mentioned to the CS tech that this lens error problem was a known issue with this camera. He said he did not have the Internet and did not know anything about the lens error issue (yeah right).

I asked them to send it back unrepaired. I’ll take the camera apart myself to see if I can unjam the lens, if not it goes in the garbage. I will never buy a Cannon product again. Do not buy the Canon Power Shot SD1000 as it has a major design flaw and they will not cover their warranty obligations.

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