I bought a new digital camera two years ago or so, a Canon PowerShot A530, which I’ve been happy with, except that the little slider that lets you select between taking pictures and reviewing pictures somehow came off. Now I can still take pictures, but I’m not able to review them on the camera. Since it’s out of warranty, I’m not anxious to send it to Canon to possibly get a $50 bill on an inexpensive device. It’s not clear how the slider functions exactly–if I stick a thin screwdriver in there and try to find something to toggle, I can’t.
You can see the slider in this picture, labeled “Take Photo / Review Image”. Any ideas?
Disassembly of the A530, with pics
Naturally there’s not a clear picture of the area around the slider switch, but if you take the back off you’ll be able to see what’s wrong for yourself.
99.9% of cheap slide switches are simply an area of the circuit board which has etched contacts on it, and a stamped metal slider fused to the underside of the plastic switch handle. Failures include:
- Metal fatigue on the slider.
- Worn areas on the PCB
- Contamination.
- Mechanical damage.
You make it sound like there’s really nothing I can do on my own. Is that right?
It depends on the failure mode, and how resourceful you are.
I’ve fixed similar switches by re-plating the contacts, but that’s not something that the average non-EE is going to be able to do. If you can get the camera apart without destroying it (no mean feat itself), then you might find that the switch failed in a way that you can easily fix it with chewing gum, bailing wire, and a ball-peen hammer 
I guess you really don’t have much to lose by trying, and it’s always fun to see the insides of these micro-miniaturized devices.
Not that I’ve never poked around with consumer electronics before, but the warning about sudden death due to high-voltage capacitors on the link that Squink posted has me a bit wary.
If you remove the battery and let the camera sit for a few days, it should be safe. The Xenon flash circuitry is usually on a separate board, so it’s pretty easy to stay away from. When you get the camera disassembled to the point where you can see the big flash capacitor, just short it’s contacts with screwdriver (insulated handle). I’d suspect it doesn’t even “snap” after sitting for a day or so.
