Replacing the LCD Screen for Sony A7RII

[tvodgm]

My Sony A7RII got splashed during a recent whale watching tour in Iceland although i covered it with a plastic bag. I always thought that the camera is water resistant according to what I learned when it was launched but it turns out that it isn't. The manual says it is only dust and moisture resistant. Sony won't covered corrosion due to liquid. I wonder what is Sony's coverage for moisture damage. Worse, its authorized service center in Toronto doesn't want to repair liquid damage quoting it's cheaper to replace the camera. I saw some LCD screens for sale on eBay but am not sure it will work. The reason is that I saw, when opening the LCD panel, a film-thin board that looks likes a breakout cable for the the LCD ribbon. This board is not included in the LCD screen I saw on eBay. The view finder and other functions of my camera still works great. Your advise on how to have my LCD screen worked is greatly appreciated.

 

[Sr1racha]

The ribbon connector leads from the back of the camera body and attaches to the screen with a small lever that holds the ribbon connector onto the back of the lcd screen. If all that's damaged is your screen, then you should be able to carefully remove the screen and ribbon connector - the circuit board that you saw stays with the screen.

 

[sye46]

How to Replace LCD Screen On Sony A7/A7R/A7S | Raiatea Arcuri Photography

2022-06-07 Update – I created a video on how to replace the LCD and used a different method of disassembly. This method makes it easier to plugin the ribbon…

www.raiphoto.com

These are instructions for the old A7s but I think the new A7s have the same steps

i did it on my old A7R, the hardest part is reconnecting the ribbons. Good luck

 

[tvodgm]

Thank you for your information. I'd be more confident to try to replace the lcd screen.

 

[tvodgm]

Thanks for the link. According to a tear-down of the A7Rii I saw, the A7RII would be easier (than the A7R) to replace the LCD screen. But it's still very easy to damage the ribbons.

 

[Sr1racha]

Yes it is very very easy to damage the ribbons. If you're not extremely careful with the ends, you'll have an even more expensive repair in store :/

 

[tvodgm]

I finally replaced the LCD screen of my A7RII with one bought from eBay. Since the PCB board inside the LCD panel was damaged, I replaced it too with one ordered from Sony . There are two extremely delicate zip cables that you have to connect to the PCB board: one from camera body and one from the LCD screen. The connector sockets are placed on the side of the PCB board that has to be glued to the back panel. Once glued, it's impossible to reach the socket to connect the LCD screen. The trick is to connect the the LCD screen before gluing the PCB board. After, you can connect the flex cable (from the camera body) to the PCB board though a little hole at the back of the LCD rear panel. Instead of a LCD screen from eBay, you can order one directly from Sony at three times of the cost, about $150. While cost may not be a problem, you need to order additional parts which are sheets that you must put together with the LCD screen in a correct order. Fortunately, the Sony Service Center here in Toronto provides you with a pictures to help you to chose parts. I judged it's safer to go with a one-piece LCD screen from eBay. Now I have a working LCD panel for my camera.

 

[John Poirier]

It's odd that the Sony service center in Toronto wouldn't do the LCD replacement. I had the screen on my A7r replaced by the authorized Sony center in Vancouver about a year ago. No problem. They ordered the part from Japan and notified me when it was in. I used the camera until the part arrived, and had it back four days after I sent it to them. I think it cost about $275.

 

[DVT80111]

Picture is worth a thousand words. So I hope someone will do a youtube movie or slide show for all of us. Thank you.

 

[tvodgm]

The authorized Sony service center here in Toronto said they would not repair anything from a camera that has liquid damage. They opened the tripod plate of my camera and found some liquid corrosion and said it's not economical to repair my LCD screen.

 

[nofumble]

The message to us... "DISPOSABLE CAMERA"

 

[Egypt4Ever]

i have the same exact story, however i tried to open the LCD panel by myself thinking i could spot the problem and fix it, anyway, i realized that the entire LCD unit is connected by a thin black ribbon (don't know its name) to the camera body, i disconnected this black ribbon from the lcd panel and reconnected it again but it didn't work unfortunately

i didn't understand from your comment what sheets or PCB board you are talking about, is the entire LCD unit being sold in ebay that i can connect directly back to the camera through this black ribbon? if so, do you have a link on ebay for this panel because the images i see on ebay for the so called Sony a7rii lcd screen is different from the setup i saw in my camera, do you have any recommendation?

 

[tvodgm]

The A7rii (or A7ii) LCD panel, i.e., the pivoting part, is connected to the camera's body by a flex ribbon cable. If your camera's LCD panel does not work, it's mostly due to the LCD screen which is inside the panel, behind the panel's front glass. You have to open the panel (by unscrewing the two screws at the bottom of of the panel to separate the panel "frame" from its back panel). You will see that the LCD screen is connected to a small PCB board that is glued to the back panel. This PCB board is in turn connect to the body by black flex ribbon cable the you talked about. You disconnect the old LCD screen from the PCB board and connect a new one (bought from eBay) to it. But the LCD screen from eBay has to be first attached to the old "frame" (the one that frames the old LCD you want to replace). To do this, you have to detach the old LCD screen from its frame (referred by Sony parts as "front panel"). You then detach the front glass from the front panel (frame). You then glue the eBay LCD screen to the front panel at the place of the piece of glass that you remove. I used epoxy glue with a tooth pick. You should separate the LCD board from the back panel (be careful not to bend the PCB board because it's glued to the back panel). You then connect the new LCD screen to the PCB board, and glue it back (with double-side tape). The you connect the black flex cable to the PCB board through a hole on the back panel. Test for display then attach the front panel to the back panel and put back the two screws.The flex ribbon cable's connector is very delicate. If you break it then you have to order it from Sony and open the back cover of the camera to replace it. If you know a camera repair man, bring him your camera with the parts and guide him to do the work for you. Good luck. I don't receive email notification and may reply late to posts.

 

[thegoldenhand]

For the A7II (not sure if its the same with the A7RII), when you pry the new LCD from the frame, there is a couple of sticky copper strips. Does anybody know what those are? And did you put a new one in or re-used the old copper strips.

I messed up my LCD and ended up burning the small pcb. Also looks like the teeth of the flex cable from the small pcb to the main board is messed up.

 

[hatem95]

Can anyone please provide a link from eBay to order my damaged sony A7rii lcd screen.

Is it the same screen as the screen of the Sony A7 ?

 

[atti]

hello. right now I.m in Iceland and the othe day it was raining. This morning my main display of the A7RII is so dark that I barely can see it in total darknes...so I swithed to the viewfinder but I.m not happy with this for video. Ca you please send links with the parts you bought ? The replaced screen is better or worse then the original one ? Thanks a lot.

 

[JerseySailor]

........ But it's still very easy to damage the ribbons.

The ribbon cable itself is fairly robust - it is the opening lever on the ZIF socket (ZIF=zero insertion force) that the cable mates to that is quite fragile. DON"T FORCE IT!

Guess how I know??? :-(

 

[Harbor Media Group]

Hi I have replaced everything I can think of....Main board, cable, lcd board, and lcd but cannot get the backlight to come on. I can shine a flashlight behind it and the lcd is working. Tried 3 different lcds and even ordered cable and lcd board from encompass. Still no back light. What am I missing? My friends a7sii does the same thing. We replaced everything that could cause it. HELP PLease before I end up using external monitor forever.......

 

[luileblanc]

Hello, sorry for my English, is the translator ... I have a similar problem, I can connect everything and the lcd screen appears with a light, but no image. So I do not want to buy everything if I'm not sure of the problem. How did you solve the problem?

 

[Desh Wasi]

did you figure out what the issue was on lcd with backlight but no display? i am in same boat and want to know exactly what parts to order.