There are several possibilities -- stripped gears, usually in conjunction with
barrel
damage, and/or loose screws in the barrels, and/or damage to the encoder (a
circuit that
tells the CPU where the zoom is). Assuming one or more of these parts will
have to be
rebuilt or replaced (many parts are NLA from Oly), I would guess a repair
charge would
run about $160US, give or take.
Mike Williamson wrote:
> I bought an IS-3 on eBay several months ago and have been very pleased with
> it.
> Recalling some comments on the list that some users consider the IS-1 lens
> a little sharper, I bought one last week on eBay. It arrived yesterday, so
> I checked it out last night. I would appreciate any comments on the problem
> I found.
>
> When I turned on the IS-1, everything seemed normal as far as noises and lens
> movement compared to my IS-3. When I attempted to zoom, it wouldn't go past
> 50mm or so. I turned it off, wondering if there was a macro mode I had
> inadvertenly
> entered that limited it to 50mm or less. I turned the camera back on. This
> time the lens would zoom normally. I pointed the lens at various objects at
> various distances and tried to focus. It focused fine (but slowly as I was
> aware it would). I popped up the flash but several seconds later put it back
> down. (I didn't notice any charging sound, but I wasn't really listening for
> one.) At some point I shot a pretend (filmless) picture. No problems. Then
> I turned it off. The lens did not retract but stayed zoomed out to 135 or so.
> There was some play in the lens. Over the course of several minutes I turned
> the camera on & off several times. Using the zoom controls I was eventually
> able to get the camera to retract to 35mm. It still didn't make the final
> retraction
> upon turning off the power as best I recall. Now when I turn it on, it makes
> a whirring sound for 3 or 4 seconds and then goes dead. The sound stops and
> the back panel goes out. While the whirring sound takes place, I can't zoom
> the lens. There is no weak battery shown on the LCD (nor was there one there
> previously). I loaded a fresh set of 123 batteries but got the same results.
> I'm going to pick up another pair of batteries today & try them out in my
> local
> camera store.
>
> 1. Assuming that batteries don't do the trick, any thoughts on the whir of
> death?
>
> 2. Has anyone had such a problem repaired before? If so, do you recall the
> approximate cost?
>
> 3. Has anyone been tracking IS-1 prices? If so, what's a fair price on a
> working
> IS-1? (I've alerted the seller as to the problem. Depending upon the answers
> to my questions and what the seller has to say, we might agree on a partial
> refund. I want to be sure I don't shoot myself in the foot if I do.)
>
> I appreciate any comments or answers anyone has to contribute. If you've got
> followup questions I can answer, I won't see them until I get home tonight (in
> roughly 9-10 hours). I will post tonight to let you know if more new
> batteries
> fixed the problem.
>
> Thanks much.
>
> Mike W.
>
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