Canon PowerShot SD30 Troubleshooting

The camera unit fails to power on

If the battery is inserted properly into the camera, and the camera won't turn on; the battery may be dead. To charge the battery, simply insert the battery into the battery charger, and plug the charger into an outlet. When the charger displays a light next to "full", the battery is charged and can be removed. Place the battery back into the camera and power it on.

The ends of the battery can accumulate dirt and residue over time, and this can prohibit the camera from receiving power. Use a dry cloth to remove any grime from the contact points of the battery. Place the battery back in the camera and power it on.

The camera is designed so that if the battery compartment door is not securely closed, the camera will not power on. Make sure the compartment door is fully closed; if it's not, close it. If the door won't stay closed, you may need to tape it down.

Green light comes on, flashes, then beeps a couple of times. Shortly after the screen will go black. Usually after its been on the charger, and/or after you just got done taking pictures. You notice the camera is on, but your lenses aren’t retracting.

Your lens were interrupted by a finger, or a pocket. Power your device off and right back on.

Even though your batteries may be charged, they might not have much capacity. The batteries may be corroded. The dirt can get in between the battery and the electrical contacts. The works against the batteries, and they don’t have enough amps to send enough current to your lens. In other words, exchange your batteries.

The lens barrel may have dirt, sand, or even gum in between the cracks. So, it’s putting a load on the electric motor and after a while the motor is straining. You could clean in between the lenses with alcohol and a q-tip (make sure your lens are facing down so you don't drip alcohol into the motor), or you could clean it with Techspray.

You’ve tried everything, and they still wont come out? Your lenses may be broken. Use the guide to help you replace the broken lenses

The camera buttons do not cause an output.

This occasionally happens if the camera's battery is close to dying or it is an old battery. First, take out the battery and charge it to full. If you turn the camera back on with the full battery and the buttons still do not work, you will have to try replacing the battery in case it is old.

If your camera turned on and started up normally. It is possible that the camera's lens had gotten stuck, so could not respond to the inputs you give the camera. To fix this try turning the camera off and then turning it back on.

If you turned on the camera and the buttons inputs are not going through, it is possible that the buttons themselves are broken and so they cannot send signals to the camera. You can try to replace the camera's buttons with completely new buttons. Use this guide on replacing the camera's buttons, Canon PowerShot SD30 Control Panel Replacement.

When the record button is pressed, no image or video is captured.

The camera cannot capture images or videos while the memory card is full. Try transferring data to your computer, and then wiping the memory card.

Make sure that the mode switch (located on the top section of the control panel side of the camera) is set to either the image of the camera (to take a picture), or the image of the video camera (for video recording)

If the memory card is not formatted correctly, the camera should prompt you to format the card. Simply follow the prompts to format your card. If this does not work, the logic circuits in the card might be damaged. In this case, it is best to replace the card.

You can fix this issue by simply, removing the SD card and sliding the write protect tab to the opposite setting, allowing you to write into the SD card.