Have you ever been out shooting and suddenly your camera stopped responding? It looks like it’s on, but nothing works—no dials, no buttons—it’s locked up. I know it’s happened to me a time or two and no amount of pounding it on the hood of my Jeep seems to make any difference.

So, when a friend called this weekend and told me he was shooting some pictures and the camera locked up, I knew what to do!

I told him to take his camera and bang it on the hood of his car. He asked “Really?”

“Yup, go out and give it a good whack and see what happens,” I replied, seeing how long he’d go for it.

“Come on Steve, how do I fix it?”

Ahh, the game was up.

So, I told him the secret, tried and true method that has always pulled me through—Remove the battery, wait a minute, then put the battery back in.

He tried it and everything went back to working order. Anytime I lock up a digicam, this trick seems to get it back up and running. So, for occasional lockups, keep it in mind.

That said, if the camera locks up on a regular basis, there may be a larger problem. Try changing the batteries, then try a different memory card. If neither seems to stop the lock-ups, it’s probably repair time.

Happy shooting!

~ Steve