Canon PowerShot SX530 HS Lens Error

Hello all,

For the past few days I have been looking all over the interview for fixes to my issues but nothing has worked so far. I have tried starting the camera facing up, tapping the lens slightly, cleaning out between to the cracks to make sure nothing is in between, resetting the settings in the tools menu, and making sure the battery is fully powered.

One thing that seems to set this error apart from all the ones I found on forums is that my camera actually works fine on startup and I can take any photos on any settings. I can use manual focus with no issues, long exposure shots etc... The Lens error occurs when I begin zooming in. I can zoom in until I hit 3.9inche, then it shuts down and says Lens Error.

My camera did not get jostled, nor did I drop it or anything out of the ordinary occurred in that sense. I am curious to know what you guys think of this, since I think this incident may be the cause and I didn't catch it until this weekend when I began taking photos again. About 2 weeks ago I was at a local park at night taking long exposure shots of my car, just testing out new ideas etc... While I was in the parking lot running around my car with my flash light to have a fun effect show up, the cops showed up and shined their spot light in the direction of me, my car and my camera. I was probably about 3 seconds into the 15 minute long exposure when this occurred.

I explained to them what I was doing and coincidentally one of the cops was a photographer so he knew what I was doing once I said I was doing long exposure shots. I then showed him some of my photos, and I didn't notice any issue with the camera at the time. I took a few more photos without an issues (but not using zoom) and then left a bit after they left.

This past weekend I was at a local park with a nice lake and began taking photos but then noticed my camera kept shutting down giving me a lens error when I tried to zoom in past 3.9 inches.

I initially thought my lens got burned out from the cops spot light shining right at my camera, but I figured if that were the case, I shouldn't be able to take any photos at all, but the camera still works great and everything functions fine (even manual focus), just zooming is the only issue.

What do you guys think of this? Any ideas on what I can try to fix this? I am open to physically opening the camera and checking the internals (I work a lot with electronics and repairing them for my job).

Thanks,

Wildcat

Wildcat,

First off, welcome to the Forums..!!

Unfortunately, the symptoms you are reporting indicate the end of the line for your SX530, even though the camera really is not that old.

That Lens Error issue, in its many different iterations, is the weak link in the Canon PowerShot chain, and many folks here, myself included, have experienced that failure.

You could attempt D-I-Y repairs, with a high probability of not succeeding, or you could pay Canon to repair the camera, which would not make sense from an economic viewpoint.

I believe it's time to replace the camera.

Again, welcome to the forums, and, sorry for the bad news.....

yes get one off ebay  or refurbished Canon site.

tkbslc wrote:

Lens error messages are what happens when there is damage to the gears that control the lens. This can happen from dirt, impact, obstruction or wear. Unfortunately standard Labor cost at Canon is about the same as the value of the camera, so you may just want to find a replacement.