After a drop lens is not closing properly, photos are dim

Hello.

Did you happen to drop your camera? It looks like the optical lens is broken. Try zooming in and out and see tell me if it is working properly. If it is not working properly, then it is broken and you need to service your camera and replace the whole lens. Bu that would be costly, and it will be wiser to buy a new digital camera.

You've broken the screen. They can be replaced, checkout the Nikon support web pages. Or a good local photography retailer

Before committing to a repair, its always worth checking to see if its an economically viable option.

You don't want to take it apart. Wayyyyyy too many parts and steps. I bought a used one with the same problem, lens was stuck half open and out of alignment, it was dropped. I got it working well in about an hour.
I tried all the described tricks, plus a few others.
#1 get a strong canister vac or shop vac, and put the end of the hose right over the front of the camera and turn it on for a few seconds, and turn it lens side down. This will remove any grit in the gears and may pull the lens itself all the way out.
#2 if the lens is still stuck try rotating the outer collar gently both ways until you hear it click into place. If it does, look at the alignment of the inner barrel to the case. the lens will never fully retract if it is out of alignment, if it is you will have to force it back onto the gears it should be on.
If it was dropped resign yourself to the fact you must at some point nearly break those plastic gears inside to get them back where they need to be, and there's a fine line between forcing and breaking it.
Just remember you'll have to get the lens closed and aligned before it will work, closing it is a proces of both rotating the outer collar and gently wiggling the inner sleeve closed. Before it will close it has to be straight. Once it its closed put a fresh set of batteries in.
This whole E18 issue is not as complex as people might think, you just have to be reeeeal gentle with that lens assembly when it's extended.

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.

The ccd sensor must be broken, you'll probably need a new lens assembly. The repair cost will be halft of what the camera sells for. There is a service that specializes on small consumer level cameras like that : <a href=http://www.portatronics.com>Camera Repair NYC</a>

Try jiggling the lens. Use compressed air to blow out any grit around the lens barrel. If that doesn't do it, you'll need to get the camera serviced.

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,

My friend droped my camera and the lens is sideways. i can look at my pictures, but when i want to take a picture it is black and says lens error. what should i do?

your lens are stuck! did you drop the camera? you need to get a repair on the lens

no not likely