Some customers of Canon cameras are complaining of frequent E18 errors. One reader of this blog reports:
"I get the E18 quite often. If I use the camera for a full day it comes up around 5 to 10 times in the day. I simply press the off button, and then on again. It pushes the lens out to full, pulls it back in and shuts down. I then turn the camera on again, and it works fine. I have never had it happen when my batteries were low. But I hardly ever run the camera until it shuts down and when it does shut down it just has the low batteries light flashing and it shuts the camera down the same way as if you press the off button."
E18 (error #18) means the lens did not retract or extend correctly. The best I can tell is that this is caused by dust and dirt in the lens mechanism. Or when the battery is too weak to retract the lens. Or perhaps an alignment problem?
A reviewer on Amazon.com found this solution:
"About 6 months later I get the dreaded E18 error. When I determined the problem to be the lens not fully extending I decided to give it a tug. It clicked and the camera came on, ready to take pictures. Turning it off and on produced the E18 again. While turning it on I gave it a nice little bump on the side (where the USB connector is) and the lens popped out on its own. No problems since."
There are some Web sites talking about the problem:
www.bitnet.cx/canon.htm
www.greenspun.com/com/imaging/PRODS/S100/S100A.HTM(use in-page search to find E18).
E18 - Repair Guide for IXUS (in German and English).
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