Tag: Cameras

Nikon Coolpix L27

Circa 2013

Inspection

Nikon Coolpix L27
Nikon Coolpix L27
Nikon Coolpix L27 case
How the camera looked on arrival

The problem with this camera is that it had a focus issue and currently it is dead electrically. Quite looking forward to getting into this one as it maybe quite a simple fix. That said, it could be that the whole internal circuit needs replacing which will mean the camera could then be added to my ever growing spare parts collection.

On receipt this camera cosmetically is in excellent condition. Even the normally broken battery door catches are in fine condition on this model. The unit is very dead though and it looks as if a battery has leaked inside causing some corrosion. I suspect some of that leakage may have travelled a little further as it seems the wide/telephoto switch on top feels a little rough when it should be a smoother movement. I’m going to have to get inside this one and have a look around.

Battery leakage evident

I’m afraid it’s disappointment with this unit. The battery leakage is so severe it has pretty much dissolved a number of components, ruined the board tracking in a number of places and corroded the wide/telephoto switch beyond use. The trusty multimeter confirms that the main circuit board is about as much use as a chocolate fire poker – useless. I’m afraid this unit is resigned to use as a spares donor for another day.

Severe corrosion from batteries evident

As you can see above, the batteries have been allowed to leak causing a catastrophic amount of damage to the circuitry. I have cleaned tested used a specific cleaning solution and scrubbed the circuit to no avail. My friendly multimeter has confirmed the circuit is beyond economical repair.

Wide/Telephoto switch totally corroded

I have stated in earlier posts that there needs to be a greater awareness of the frailties of cheap batteries. There is a particular brand I know of that has adopted the name of a large photographic company I used to work for, and to be blunt their batteries are utter crap. They start to leak very soon after their demise and the acid/alkaline leaks everywhere, they should be avoided at all costs and I very much suspect this specific case is due to such advice being ignored. High use items such as cameras require an adequate battery, please do not cut corners here as it is a false expenditure.

Damage caused by corrosive substances

The saving grace from this unit is that I have a few items that will be put to use at a later date. The body shell with its intact battery locking mechanism will probably earn me more than the whole camera cost originally and that will still leave me more as spare parts. It’s just a shame that cost cutting on the power supply has damaged so much of this unit. I cannot impress on you enough, do not use cheap batteries, you will potentially pay the price of permanent damage if you do.

I have had to seriously clean and decontaminate my work board due to the immense amount of contamination that came from this unit, I’m glad I wore protective gloves whilst attempting to clean this unit.

What I have managed to salvage

I have salvaged a complete body shell with working battery locking door, a lens focusing unit, a rear screen and holder, a number of screws, a flash unit cover and a 330v 100uf photo flash capacitor. As well as a nice leather case.

Unfortunately not every unit is salvageable, however we have parts to assure the next unit may not go to waste. A healthy spares store is always welcome and all I can say is…. Onwards and upwards, bring forward the next repair.

Vintage Camera figures

Bilora Bella

Cameras go back a good few years since the first photograph was taken back in 1826 – 1827 by Nicephore Niepce. Back then he used a bitumen substance on a pewter plate as his light sensitive base for his photo of a rooftop in France, the exposure was somewhere around 8 hours, oh how things have progressed.

I’m putting this piece together to give the reader an idea of just how many cameras were produced between then and now if I can pull sufficient data together. The issue here is that cameras took many forms, from boxes with holes punched into them through to disposable items that were popular throughout the eighties and that are now seeing a resurgence in popularity due to people wanting physical prints rather than trawling through many thousands of images they have stored on their electronic storage devices.

What defines Vintage?

Well that’s a good question. Even good old digital is classified as a vintage if you go back to the 80s and observe what was around then. Camera companies pump out version after version of cameras each one supposedly better than the last, I should imagine almost every family on the planet has an old camera of some sort in their possession, those old Kodak Brownies et al were absolutely everywhere. Truthfully I’d expect anything over 10 years old to be vintage, they are also reducing in popularity now due to the appearance of the smartphone….. as I have said previously, everyone is now a photographer.

Some figures then..

It’s pretty much impossible to compute the really old lines of cameras as there were so many brands and very little in the way of monitoring output, sales of the big brands were immense as we know, the likes of Kodak monopolised the photographic arena for decades and they absolutely flooded the markets world wide.

Digital cameras peaked in sales of 121 Million individual worldwide unit sales in 2010 deemed to be the height of camera demand pre Smartphone arrival on the scene. Since then sales worldwide have decreased to about 8 Million units a year in 2021 and continue to decline, that said there are an awful lot of units out there more than likely stuck at the back of a drawer or hidden away elsewhere within the household.

The big number is this though. According to Visual technology and investor LDV Capital the numbers of cameras around the world will have risen to at least 45 Billion by 2022. Ok, that does include the smart phone and almost 770 Million CCTV cameras as well. Think about that figure for a moment, there are currently 8 billion people on this planet and this figure equates to there being 5.5 cameras available to each and every one of them. A phenomenal number you’ll agree.

So…

The sole purpose of this page to me is just to highlight the amount of cameras out there, I want to do my little bit to repair, recycle and repurpose a small number of them but I also want to point out that there is no shortage of stock….😎

See a further post on DSLR figures: More Camera statistics