Lens won't extend

Make sure the battery is installed correctly.Try opening, then closing the cover to the memory card and battery compartment while holding pressure against it until you hear it click closed. Then try to power it up. The camera will not power up if the cover is not properly closed.

Hello

Unfortunately a "lens error" message is not something that you will be able to fix. This error indicates a system failure and requires the camera to be sent in for servicing and repair.

Lens errors are fairly common. Usually it's sand or grit interfering with the lens extension mechanism. Or the camera's been dropped with the lens extended. Or the camera has been powered on, but the lens had been blocked preventing its extension. Or the battery ran down with the lens extended ...

Unfortunately, many cameras that fall prey to this can only be corrected by professional repair. But here are some things that you can do to try to correct it. They only seem to work for less than 40% of the lens errors, but if the camera is out of warranty, or if repair costs close to the value of the camera, they're worth a try.

Since the motor is clearly running, it and the battery are OK.
I fear the mechanism is broken and needs specialist repair (if not too costly)

Lens errors are fairly common. Usually it's sand or grit interfering with the lens extension mechanism. Or the camera's been dropped with the lens extended. Or the camera has been powered on, but the lens had been blocked preventing its extension. Or the battery ran down with the lens extended ... Here are some things that you can do to try to correct it. They only seem to work for less than 50% of the lens errors, but if the camera is out of warranty, they're worth a try.

Did you tell the camera that you are using an external/additional lens? You have to specify it somewhere in the menu, the camera gives you some options (the lens model numbers) and you need to match it with your lens' model number.

It could be a stuck shutter. To confirm a stuck shutter, put the camera in any mode other than "Auto", and turn the flash OFF (you don't want to blind yourself for the next step). Next look down the lens and take a picture. You should see a tiny flicker in the center of the lens as the shutter opens and closes. If no movement is seen, then you likely have a stuck shutter. If so, please see the following for further info and a simple fix that may help:

http://camerarepair.blogspot.com/2009/05/simple-fix-for-stuck-shutter.html

Lens errors are fairly common. Usually it's sand or grit interfering with the lens extension mechanism. Or the camera's been dropped with the lens extended. Or the camera has been powered on, but the lens had been blocked preventing its extension. Or the battery ran down with the lens extended ...

Here's some things that you can do to try to correct it. They only seem to work for less than 50% of the lens errors, but if the camera is out of warranty, they're worth a try:

http://camerarepair.blogspot.com/2007/12/fixing-lens-error-on-digital-camera.html

If the lens does not extend/retract when the camera is powered on, then lens assembly is damaged.

Unfortunately, such Canon SX100 (and the SX110 too) has a very fragile lens assembly, and it's damaged very easily. Most of the times the internal gears, the plastic post guides and the motor are damaged at the same time, so the only solution is to replace the whole lens assembly.

The lens replacement requires a qualified camera repair technician, unless you want to try in repair it yourself, which requires tools (scredrivers, soldering iron, desoldering tool, magnifier glass with light, etc).

Best regards,

Have read of same problem from numerous users on the internet. One person said this may be caused by a twisted/jammed lens. Apparently the "telescoping" lens mechanism can sometimes jam due to a drop and/or from dirt that gets in the telescoping hardware. The solution that someone gave that I read about involved telling the user to try to gently twist and/or wiggle the extended lens parts counterclockwise to try to "unjam" them. Of course that would also require having fully charged batteries, etc, before you try that, since from my experience, low battery charge results sometimes in the lens not retracting (or extending) properly also. It's worth a try anyway, since apparently your camera isn't functioning properly anyway now with its lens extended. I have a problem w/my On/Off switch not working properly, and in checking w/the Canon USA website, they wanted a minimum of $87 to "start" to attempt to fix it (whatever the problem is), and required that I pay them that much "up-front", and that I agree to whatever it then would cost in toral. I backed out and went and bought some new cameras instead, since I felt that was way too much to invest in my A70, that's already 5 years old now. Good luck w/your extended lens problem.