Technical Forum

My Digital camera takes good pictures but it has started to take some that are streaked and a purple color. Has it had it? It is a Canon A40 and four years old.

I had the same trouble - basicly probably had it as mine was going to cost far too much to repair. Annoying eh?

Diane,
before chucking it, have you tried a different memory card ? Could be that , if not !!!!!

I have a cheap one with the same sympton; probably used it under too cold conditions.

One of our earliest started striping; a real bad sensor problem.

I am still figuring out what the cheapest option over the years will be.
Buying a cheap camera (7Mpixels) every 2 year or invest in a digital SLR (bigger equipment).

PJ

I am holding off replacing as I want a DSLR to match my film SLR. That way I get to inter change the lenses and accessories I already have :)

The streaks could be caused by dust on the sensor, however I believe the cleaning of the sensor is not cheap.

Thanks to all. I was told it was cheaper to buy a new one than to repair the old so I (gulp) did. I got an inexpensive one (relatively speaking) ..a Kodak EasyShare which has a zoom lens which I wanted and didn't have before.

<inter change the lenses>

That is partly true. The lenses will fit and can be controlled manually in focus. The new DSLR come with electrical controlled focus and stabilisation.
To only operated a full feature DSLR camera with just manual control is like not using half of the features.

When I'll go for DSLR I will invest most in a new zoom lens (and the mind wide angle requirement).

PJ

I had the same problem with my Olympus (since stolen, that's one way of solving the problem!) Not often, and I don't think the temperature had anything to do with it. Annoying though. I'll be interested to see if anyone has a definitive answer, and how to avoid it happening again.

Considering your camera is more than 6 years old ( it was introduced in 2002) you've got good value. from it.
I get the occasional vertical purple stripes in my photos, but only when shooting into a bright light source.

I'm currently considering a second camera as a back-up unit and was looking at the Panasonic FX500 which uses a large touch-screen interface to operate it....neat stuff, and very intuitive

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0803/08031802panasonicfx500.asp

My wife is still happy with the Panasonic FX33 I bought her.

Before she had a first of series Sony Power shot camra's. Very neat handy little thing with good true colour images (2 to 3 Mb pixels). She really shot over 10.000 pictures and weared it out.

PJ