Drop the dead donkey

If you happen to have one of these Cybershot cameras you may find yourself one bright day, just right about when you are ready to depart for a weekend shooting session with your pals, facing at a nasty 'Turn the power off and on again' on the camera's viewer LCD back. And you also see your lens scarcely moving front and back and not being able to retract at the rest position. Obviously the mechanics of the lens do not seem to react to the software instructions; your lens is jammed.

My youngest son came home yesterday with this problem. I gave up trying to make it work, even pulling the lens while it was trying to retract and all sorts of stupid things you can imagine. I then went to the world's superbrains and Googled with 'Turn the power off and on again' in the search field. Piles of forums showed up with other complaining victims doing their stories. I picked the first forum in the list and started reading questions and answers. It was a lucky strike, turns out...Many were suggesting opening up the camera and fixing the jammed lens, others sending it to Sony Service (the last thing I'd do, really), and some suggested some other magic tricks. Whatever works for anyone... Opinions are like assholes... everybody has got one.

Anyways, a shy suggestion by a dude attracted my attention. They guy's solution was to... drop the camera! Yes Sir! Drop it! Not from the tenth floor of a building though... just a foot away from a soft floor, so that the box doesn't fall apart altogether. This would fix it...

Having no mood to try any other 'solution', for kicks I did the trick. I put a soft paper magazine on my table to absorb the shock a bit, and left the camera from a foot height fall on it...

Did this fix it? What a question?! Would you think I'd go thru the pain of posting about it if it didn't? Worked like a charm! Well done Sony! There is some merit after all to fixing old TVs by hitting them on the side! Especially if they were Sony Trinitrons!