When Michelle’s brother was in town, they took a hike and her Casio Exilim EX-Z60 digital camera acted as body armor when she slipped on some loose rock. The good news is that it saved her from a piercing wound from a sharp rock. The bad news is that the rock felt obligated to pierce something and her little camera stepped up to the plate.
Note: I’ve linked to original versions of all pictures, so just click any photo for more detail.
Note 2: All photos were taken with MY camera that I operated on last year.
Disclaimer: The fact that this worked for me is mostly luck and the camera may even go up in flames in a week. I’m a web developer, not an electrician, so proceed with your own camera at your own risk. You have been warned.
Offer: Can’t stomach opening your hardware on your own? Contact me. I’m always looking for projects and I might just fix your camera, computer, etc. for free just so I can post about it.
Wow… Pretty, isn’t it. The camera would still take photos, but what’s the point of a digital camera if you can’t see the photos and delete the blurry ones on the spot. As always, I was eager to accept the challenge of replacing the broken screen with a working one.
Preparation: Have your tools ready
Oddly, I don’t have a lot of tools. It’s probably because I lose things. I noted that I would need a teeny tiny screwdriver, so I grabbed an eyeglasses repair kit on my way home for $1.07 total. I also found that I needed tweezers to get the new screen plugged in (more on that later). Since I wear glasses and wanted a clean screen, I used my lens cleaning cloth to wipe down the exposed new screen. These three things are about all you should need.
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Step One: Find a working screen
I jumped on ebay, and took my chances on a camera listed as “not sure why it wont turn on”. I dropped $16.51 including shipping, so I was ok with the possibility that the screen might be bad. Luckily, when I swapped out the battery, I found that its screen was fine. The camera made a lot of noise, though. I think someone sat on it. Look at how bent it was:
Step Two: Take apart the cameras
Casio REALLY crammed everything into this tiny camera. When working on any complex electronics, always be patient and gentle with it. These things are packed with sensitive parts and cables that you don’t want to break. You should also note where screws come from and how things go together. Whenever I pull something apart, I separate the screws on a piece of paper and write where they came from. To get started, just remove the following screws in this suggested order:
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With the camera turned off, remove the battery and memory card and set them aside. Then start with the 6 screws on the bottom. |
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There’s another screw in the battery compartment. Might as well get that one now. |
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Remove the side plate screws. |
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There are two on each side. |
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Now remove the side plate and get the two screws hiding under it. |
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And don’t forget the two on the other side. |
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Carefully remove the front of the camera |
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Now carefully remove the back of the camera |
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Unscrew this small board screw to loosen up the board a little. |
Step Three: Remove the screens and install the good screen on the good camera
This is a real treat. You’re going to have to be really careful and pretty patient to pull this off. It took me a while, but I finally got it. Before you start, pay attention to where the wires and ribbon cable are running. Also, you’ll need to stretch the camera parts open a little to get in there. Just be very very careful to not break anything or disconnect other cables on your working camera. We don’t care as much about the broken camera (the one we’re stealing the good screen from).
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The display component is sandwiched between the display backing (which is glued in place) and an outer metal frame. Remove the metal frame and set it aside. |
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Now pry the glued backing away from the camera as shown. Make sure to watch it now that it’ll tug at the wires and the ribbon cable. |
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Now carefully remove the display backing from the display screen. There will be a couple thin sheets behind the screen. Leave them there on both cameras. |
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In the center of this image, you can see where the ribbon cable plugs into the board. You’ll want to carefully make some room to get in there and then see the next photo. |
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To unplug the cable, you’ll want to lift the black plastic piece on top of it with the tip of your screwdriver to unlock it. The cable will easily slide out when it’s unlocked. This picture shows it away from other camera parts with the ribbon cable unplugged. |
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If you forgot which was the bad screen, hold it up to the light and you’ll know. |
Now reverse the steps to get the good screen into your camera and the camera back together. One of the hard parts is plugging in that ribbon cable. I grabbed tweezers from the bathroom and used them to guide it in and it worked out very well. Just be careful to not rip that ribbon cable. If something doesn’t fit right, take a good look and try again. Don’t force anything you’re unsure of. When you’re done, you should have a whole camera again:
You’ll notice that my wife now has a two-tone camera. This is because the plastic that guards the actual screen also broke, which will be the case for most broken screens. When I put the camera back together, I used the back panel from the ebay camera rather than prying up the plastic window from it and re-gluing it to her camera. You can also just buy a camera of the same color from ebay. Personally, I like the duo-tone franken-camera, and so does she. But does it work? See for yourself.
And what should you do with all the spare parts? I threw them in a zip lock bag and set them aside. You never know when another part could fail in your camera and you might need something from these left-overs.
That’s it. If this article was helpful or you have questions, let me know.
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on March 18th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Wow!! You are so good with electronics! I’m sure the makers of digital camera wouldn’t want too many of you around. No business for them! :)
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on March 19th, 2008 at 6:54 am
Thats great that a camera saved someone from a huge cut in their hand. I wish my camera will do a favor like that to me, but it only takes photos.
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on March 19th, 2008 at 6:58 am
All you need is some bubble gum and we’ll have to start calling you MacGyver :)
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on March 19th, 2008 at 8:41 am
Sherxr: You’re probably right. Instead of buying one new camera, I’ve made use of two broken ones.
David: I know.. my camera doesn’t save me from ouchies.
rollerkaty: Yeah, but then I’d have to give up the fro you gave me.
on March 19th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
this is a cool tips. the camera shop always charge me so much for screen related problems.
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on March 19th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Technology Blog: After having pulled apart some electronics lately, I don’t think I’d spend the money when I can do it myself unless it was a very expensive item with a high risk of breaking it.
on March 20th, 2008 at 7:04 am
It’s sure look easy when I’m not doing it :lol: Thanks for the tips, maybe I’ll try it someday.
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on March 20th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
nice tutorial. unfortunately this didn’t help me when i dropped my camera in the lake. ;)
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on March 21st, 2008 at 12:43 am
BaseGuardian: Yeah.. it was kind of a pain, but it was doable. I wasn’t sure it would work until I was done.
Shamim: Thanks. Just open it up and dry it out.
on March 21st, 2008 at 3:47 am
As usual you are the man! Now if only I could find that kind of blow by blow for KompoZer. I suck at web design and I hate it. LOL
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on March 21st, 2008 at 4:38 am
ettarose: I hadn’t heard of that program before. I do all my code by hand. When I started making web sites, there were no web site tools or books about making web pages, so I guess that’s just how I learned to do it.
on March 21st, 2008 at 7:49 pm
All said and done, how much time did it take you to finish it?
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on March 21st, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Josh: I think it took about 1:15. About 15 minutes of that was me trying to figure out how I would unplug (and plug back in) the screen’s ribbon cable.
on March 21st, 2008 at 10:04 pm
I need to trade husbands with your wife! You are great at doing these things! If you can cook too then thats extra bonus! haha
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on March 21st, 2008 at 10:22 pm
Crista: I’m good with unnecessary flowers, listening, and electronics. I’ve a horrible memory, work too much, and I keep 9-1-1 on speed dial when I cook. =)
on March 21st, 2008 at 11:59 pm
I bet everyone knows someone who has a camera with the screen broken. My girlfriend’s has a wrecked screen.
I just need to find a working screen on ebay or something.
on March 22nd, 2008 at 1:02 am
Ron: Definitely. Just find a cheap kone on ebay and tear it apart very carefully. Make sure you open up the ebay camera first. This way, if you break something along the way (like I broke a cable connector), you’re breaking it on the camera you will discard, and not the one you’re fixing.
On a side note, I forgot all about your site until now, but it’s so unique that I remembered it as soon as I saw your name. Going to look again.
on March 26th, 2008 at 5:34 am
[...] the Empty Nest of My Blog and My Brand @jdrohn74 – Ways To Knock Your Competitors Cold @joetech – How to Replace a Broken Screen on a Casio Exilim Z60 Camera @ColinWalker – Social media – when real life gets in the way @Vultoor – Gata, Blogovat s-a incheiat [...]
on March 26th, 2008 at 9:29 am
[...] the Empty Nest of My Blog and My Brand @jdrohn74 – Ways To Knock Your Competitors Cold @joetech – How to Replace a Broken Screen on a Casio Exilim Z60 Camera @ColinWalker – Social media – when real life gets in the way @Vultoor – Gata, Blogovat s-a incheiat [...]
on March 26th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
[...] the Empty Nest of My Blog and My Brand @jdrohn74 – Ways To Knock Your Competitors Cold @joetech – How to Replace a Broken Screen on a Casio Exilim Z60 Camera @ColinWalker – Social media – when real life gets in the way @Vultoor – Gata, Blogovat s-a incheiat [...]
on March 29th, 2008 at 12:06 am
[...] the Empty Nest of My Blog and My Brand @jdrohn74 – Ways To Knock Your Competitors Cold @joetech – How to Replace a Broken Screen on a Casio Exilim Z60 Camera @ColinWalker – Social media – when real life gets in the way @Vultoor – Gata, Blogovat s-a incheiat [...]
on March 29th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
EXCELLENT, job well done!!
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on April 2nd, 2008 at 4:21 am
Its Alive!!! Franken-camera has been reborn to the delight of many a new camera subjects. Great tips and tricks for repairing delicate devices.
on April 2nd, 2008 at 5:21 am
danandmarsh: Thanks
tony dee: LOL. That made me laugh.
on April 4th, 2008 at 3:03 am
[...] the Empty Nest of My Blog and My Brand @jdrohn74 – Ways To Knock Your Competitors Cold @joetech – How to Replace a Broken Screen on a Casio Exilim Z60 Camera @ColinWalker – Social media – when real life gets in the way @Vultoor – Gata, Blogovat s-a incheiat [...]
on July 11th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
You don’t happen to still have the lens from the ebay camera, do you? I’m right now sitting with a completely taken-apart Exilim EX-S600 which as a lens error…my little sister probably hit it while the lens was extended. It’s a 3x optical zoom lens, 6.2-18.6mm (looks the same as yours). If you still have it and are willing to ship it my way, please let me know! I’d be happy to pay shipping and a small fee for the part. Thanks for posting this!
-Tom
on July 14th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Tom,
I saved all the extra parts in a ZipLoc bag “just in case”. Email me and we’ll work that out. joe [at] joetech.com
on August 4th, 2008 at 9:13 am
Hi,
Do you know how to connect a new lens in the camera? I’ve removed the broken one and want to replace it. to reomve the broken one I had to ‘click’ 2 flat ‘cables’ out of a kind of connector. When i want to put the cables from the new one in the connector wont close. Any idea?
thanks!!
Pieter
on September 9th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
My camera is broken yesterday ! I’m so sad right now ! I think the screen is broken like your . It was in my bag . I dropped my bag . I really dont know what to do now … Mine is Sony Cyber-Shot 7.2 Mega Pixels . Please help me ! I dont know anything about electronics like you do . Please !
on September 9th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
Tami,
If you let me know the model number, I can see what I can find out for you. Alternatively, you could always send it to me and I can mail it back fixed or not.
on September 9th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Peter: Sorry for the late reply. If your talking about the connector in the center of this photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nodomain1/2341979565/sizes/l/in/set-72157604143976368/ it may have broken. While I reiterate that I’m not an electrician or pro with this stuff, I’d guess you can hot glue the thing in place. First, try it both ways (flip it over). Study the photos above and see if anything stands out.
on October 24th, 2008 at 2:00 am
I have a Casio Exilim s600 and the LCD screen is completely white. It is not cracked or anything and I cannot see the menu and everything fine. Is there any way to fix this?
on October 24th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Phoebe: My guess without seeing the camera would be a loose video cable. On Fixya.com, I found this suggestion: “Try this;turn camera on,squeeze case between your fingers,where sony logo is,if ribbon is just loose the lcd should come back on.” Ultimately, I would open it very carefully and make sure the ribbon cable is connected fully. If you’re shy about opening it up and don’t want to pay to get it fixed, feel free to send it my way and I’ll do it and write up a post about it. My address is in the Get Reviewed page (see the menu up there).
on October 25th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Joe i have a z75 too with the lens broken, so if you still have the lens available please let me know how much it will cost . thanks for your time buddy.
on November 20th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Think you can fix a Casio Exilim EX-Z77?
My cousin decided to give it to me since her boyfriend bought her a new camera, she told me it still worked an all but little did she tell me about accidentally sitting on it and having the same problem you had.
on December 9th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Hi:
I have new casio exilim z80 with only 1 month of used but a student has broken the glass of my camera. Can you help me fix it? Im from Puerto Rico. My email is lpancorbo@yahoo.com .Thanks
on December 20th, 2008 at 1:05 am
i dropped my cam/and it says there is a lens error and the lens do’s not go back in and i can see the pic’s on my cam but can not take any pic’s know p/ls help me ..email is lovebren@email.com or my space is loveben1@yahoo.com ..thanks..
on December 20th, 2008 at 10:16 am
bren:
Sounds like the camera lens gears are jammed. If you feel up to it, you can open the camera like I did in this post, but you’ll need to get further inside the lens assembly to see the gears. I honestly don’t know what that looks like, but my offer stands to try to fix it for free if you want to send it to me.
on February 12th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
wow! thanks for the article. the screen on my exilim just broke so I’m going to give this a try before upgrading to the 8MP version. hopefully it goes well.
on February 12th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
Andrew: Please do let us know how it turns out. Good luck!
on October 17th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
It’s sure look easy when I’m not doing it :)
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on November 17th, 2009 at 11:59 am
[...] My DSLR (like most) does not take an SD card at all, and my wife’s Casio Exilim Z60 (the Frankencamera) has a dead battery, so I borrowed a friend’s Casio Exilim [...]
on December 8th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
There is a very important thing to keep in mind when opening a flash camera, and that is that you can get a very biq zap from the thingy that fires the flash. Before you dissasemble the camera, take a picture with the flash to partially discharge the capacitor. When open, do not touch camera near the capacitor which looks like a battery. it is where the electricity is stored to power the flash. if you touch it you may be in for an unpleasant sensation. (shock). If you want to be shure it is discharged arc a screwdriver over the terminals. i’m not sure if this can damage the camera, it didn’t on mine when i did it on a fully charged capacitor.
on December 8th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
what do you think is the odds that on a black screen it is because of a bad screen and not because of some other component that feeds the screen ?
on December 9th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
After replacing the LCD, hard time getting ribbon cable back in, the LCD is still blank. I tried putting the old back in and its blank/white as well. I have a feeling I’m not getting the ribbon cable completely seated but I can’t really see how to push it in any more without breaking something. Any tips on getting this in? I tried tweezers and that helped a bit.
on July 19th, 2010 at 2:12 pm
well, thats good. but uhm, if you notice the camera with the broken screen is BLACK. & the one that is “fixed” is silverrr, so its bulll .
on July 19th, 2010 at 2:22 pm
Tim: Thanks for the tips and I’m sorry I just now saw your other comments. For ribbon cables, it can sometimes also be a matter of the order in which you try to get things plugged in. A different order can present less obstacles. It may also be something other than the screen causing the problem, but not likely.
sydney: Please take a closer look before trying to call me out on this. The black camera had both the screen and the protective plastic (which is glued to the back of the case) broken. When I did this, I decided to just use the back case piece from the silver camera because it was easier and I liked the hybrid two-tone camera in black and silver. The pictures in the post show that if you look closely enough. I’m sure how you could make the mistake. The fixed camera still works great, so if you want some video proof, let me know. =)