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A gaping mouth was all I had when my 3 year ol’ Canon Powershot S1 IS’s LCD/EVF went blank all of a sudden a few months ago. Nothing could be seen, clicking the picture button resulted in blank pics. Googling about it revealed an advisory by Canon, stating that it is a known issue with the CCD image sensor. Canon impressed me by that notice when they said they will fix it for free, even for cameras out of warranty period, and will also pay to-and-fro shipping. Contacting canon support in India (support, in India? Is that a joke?) resulted in just their ignorance about any such advisory.
Undeterred, I sent the camera to the land of dreams (USA) with a friend, e-mailed the Canon USA support at carecenter@cits.canon.com with my predicament, and they promptly sent shipping labels to my friend. So far so good. But a couple of months went by, with no word from them. Customer support told me they are awaiting parts. Sad I was that day 
.
One fine day, I just checked the status of the return shipping label on a whim, and found that they had shipped my camera back. I was disheartened thinking it had been returned unrepaired, but then my friend called to let me know that they had sent some other camera back. I thought they might have sent some low price, refurbished camera, but atleast a working camera is better than a non-working one.
Today my friend came back from the US, and what do we have? A brand spanking new Canon Powershot S5 IS (8 MP, 12x Optical zoom, flip out and twist LCD). Yessir 
. Here is a pic of my new baby (Ah, the irony, the clicking powerhouse has been clicked with a low-res phone camera, but anyways.)
Note: Contact canon immediately if you are facing the same problem and your camera is one of these:
- Camcorders: ZR60, ZR65 MC, ZR70 MC, ZR80, ZR85, ZR90, ELURA 40 MC, ELURA 50
- Digital Cameras A60, A70, A75, A300, A310, S230, SD100, SD110, A40(*), A80(*), A85(*), A95(*), S1 IS(*), S60(*), S200(*), S330(*), S400(*), S410(*), S500(*)
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Quote of the day: Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. - Kierkegaard
March 11th, 2008 at 12:07 am
you are one lucky guy shantz….used the camera for 3 yrs, now got their latest model
i envy ya!!!
March 11th, 2008 at 12:10 am
I think my jinx is broken now. I have never won any lotteries/raffles/free gifts and such but this little gem from Canon has lifted the curse from my head
March 11th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Congrats! Never heard of such good customer care ever… but then I loved Canon even before that
March 11th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
thnx TF..I guess now I’ll have to start taking a few tips from you on using it justly though
March 12th, 2008 at 11:04 am
Congrats for the new cam man !!!
When is the party
March 12th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Whenever u want
March 12th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
call me also at the party
well, congrats!!
March 13th, 2008 at 12:31 am
ok..but you have to bring those motichoor laddoos with you
March 13th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
are you sure your friend did not buy it for you
March 14th, 2008 at 12:02 am
you should have come to my seat yesterday itself
March 14th, 2008 at 1:52 am
@Ashu: haha, a 300$ camera? I don’t think so. but I don’t mind if did
March 14th, 2008 at 1:53 am
@anish: what? you didn’t save any for me?
March 23rd, 2008 at 6:34 pm
/heartburn !
March 24th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Hi,
I have a problem with my S3IS. It wont just turn on. It is giving a beep and shutting off when trying to switch on. Orange LED lights for a minute. I bought a new set of batteries and still the problem is the same. Cant understand what to do. Its not getting on in play mode either nor is it detecting when connected to system. Please guide me what to do. It was bought in US and currently i am in Sweden. It is under US warranty. Got your reference from Harsimran Brar. Please help.
thanks,
Manu
March 24th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Hey Manu
your problem is a bit different from what I went through. You can try asking your question on camera specific forums like on dpreview.com or just try googling with a few keywords on google. This is what I tried while finding a solution to my problem.
April 2nd, 2008 at 2:24 am
Canon Rocks man!
Thanks for info Shantanu…..it opened my mind to new horizons!
My friend had an s1 model too, and we played an awesome trick!
We mailed to Canon US customer service the details of the cam and that it was giving the ‘blank pic’ problem. Then followed up on email to give them the requested data relating to purchase. Also we convinced them that sending the cam by post was costing us a lot and guess what?! They have agreed to send a brand new cam!!! Though they haven’t mentioned the model, we seriously hope that it is S5!
And by the way, keep the secret to urself - we aren’t facing the blank-pic prob (as of now at least!)
And the deal is I get the older Cam and my friend gets the new one…fair enough! Yippppppppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Thanks man…..Canon ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ankit..
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:49 am
@Ankit: cool yaar!!