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Is our Panasonic digital camera ruined?

We have a Panasonic digital camera, 7megapixel, and have had it about 2 years now. The past couple months we noticed all pictures we take, that once we load them on a computer or print them there is a horizontal line through it. Every picture has this line through them and it's annoying. Can it be fixed or just get a new camera?

Public Comments

1. Sounds like you might have a crack on the lens. Take a look and see. but, yes, you may need a new camera.

2. My guess is that this is a fault in the CCD sensor (the "film" in a digital camera). There were a rash of these problems in sensors produced by Sony in 2005 (see link below) with the common symptom of a horizontal line appearing on the image. Many companies were will to fix this fault for free.

You have (possibly) two options.

1. If you can gain access to the sensor (depending on the camera, you might be able to take off the lens to get access), you might use a lens blower to try to knock off any dust, etc that fell onto the sensor. It's possible (though unlikely) that this is your problem.

2. You can call Panasonic and tell them about the problem, highlighting that this is a sensor fault, and try to get them to spring for the repair. If they won't the cost of the repair is probably prohibitive (around $200 for Canon), so you'll end up tossing the camera.