On Mon, 3 Jan 2011 11:28:40 +0000, lid
(Adrian Tuddenham) wrote:

who where wrote:

On Sun, 2 Jan 2011 22:33:02 +0000, lid
(Adrian Tuddenham) wrote:

John Keiser wrote:

Is this in all modes - Auto, Program, etc?

It seems to be.

Even using it with the manual exposure at its darkest setting gives
over-exposure and a coarse 'raster' effect.

Possibly the sudden freeing up of the mode switch is the clue. It may
be "detached" and stuck in an inappropriate mode.

It seems to switch between modes normally, so at least one section of
the switch is working - but I agree it does seem the first place to
look.

I have found two other references on the Web from people who have
experienced the same fault - but neither of them appeared to have found
a solution.

Basically with the cost of these device dropping continuously you will
find - as we have - that repair is not a cost-effective alternative to
replacement. That said, you have littlle to lose by disassembling it
(not trivial) and exploring the internals with special attention to
the mode switch.

That's going to be my first plan of action. I notice there is a camera
repair shop in London which claims to do economically-priced repairs on
this model.

Good luck with that (sincerely). You may also be able to locate a
pre-loved A420/430 for the same sort of cost.

My problem with buying a new camera is that I may not be able to get a
suitable card reader which works with my current Mac OS 8.6 system - and
I cannot change the OS because all my business software runs on it.

SD/MMC? Close to standard for very many cameras.

We have a couple of Canons here (A200 and A540), chosen for quick
point-n-shoot duty. They were selected because of key features on my
shopping list - AA batteries, macro, USB interfacing, etc etc - if you
start the hunt for a replacement with a "must-have" feature list
you'll surely have some success. (We don't read the card to retrieve
pics, we use ZB and the USB posts only).