Canon PowerShot not turning on, saying "Lens Error." please help!

[ero87]

hey friends,

i'm pretty bummed/stressed because my Canon PowerShot SD600 suddenly won't turn on. instead, it gives me a little error message saying "Lens Error, restart camera." I've never dropped it or anything.

My only hypothesis is that i took a quick photo in the snow, and later that day it was no longer working. It was barely snowing, myabe one or two flakes hit the camera... can that seriously break my lens?

If anyone has had a similar problem, or knows what i can do, i would be SO grateful. thanks!

 

[RedTomato]

Presumably restarting it doesn't work?

A few snowflakes won't hurt it.

However, you may have condensation in the camera from taking it from a hot to a cold environment (or vice versa) too quickly. Did you take it from somewhere warm (kitchen or heated car) into the snow or vice versa?

When lenses expand to zoom in / out, they may take in air from outside the camera (it's not a vacuum in there) so it may have sucked in some moist air which then condensed inside the camera.

Try drying it out somewhere warm and dry for a few days.