Advice Needed: Repair or Replace? (cross post from Photo Group)

Well, I took my new digital camera to Japan, and for the first eight days, no problem. I got some fun pictures, some boring ones, but most importantly, I had no problems.

(It's an Olympus FE-130, by the way.)

Okay, well, this morning I had some time before going to visit Art_from_Ark, so I went over to Asakusa Kannon Temple, just up the street in Tokyo, which has a touristy but fun street market, and I dropped the camera while paying for a snack item.

At first it seemed unaffected and took three or four nice pictures. Then another tourist asked me to take her picture, so I turned the Olympus off, since, among other things, I deiced that I had enough pictures of the area.

So when I tried to turn the camera on again, the "Olympus" logo appeared, but nothing else appeared on the LCD screen. I tried a couiple of times--same result. Inspecting the camera, I saw that the zoom lens was knocked off center.

I took it to the nearest little hole-in-the-wall camera shop (the only type in that neighborhood), and the owner told me that I'd have to send it to the manufacturer. On the way to catch the train out to where Art lives, I even stopped off at a famous camera super store, which boasts "repairs while you wait," but these people, too, told me that I'd have to send it back to the manufacturer.

Since I'm returning to the States on Monday, this means I'm stuck using a disposable camera (fortunately, available everywhere, and I do mean everywhere, in Japan.)

So here's my question. Has anyone had anything like this repaired? I'm assuming it's not covered by warranty, since one is not supposed to drop one's camera so that the zoom is knocked off center, so I'll have to pay the expenses.

How much would something like this cost? A little? A lot? Are we talking about fifty bucks? A hundred?

Or should I take advantage of the duty-free deals on digital cameras here, where I can get something comparable for less than what I paid in the States?

It's Saturday evening here, and Saturday morning in the States, so I'll check your responses on Sunday morning.

Thanks in advance! I await your collective wisdom.

little repairs can cost big money...not all "disposable" cameras are sold or advertised as such.

That's awfully expensive for a disposable camera. (The admitted disposable camera I bought was about $8.00) :-(

how old is your olympus, and how much wear does it show...?

if it's really clean, and no scuffs from the drop- you could order a new identical one online, and when it arrives, send back the broken one as the new one, claiming it was damaged in shipping...

but you didn't hear it from me.

:-(

Besides, these cameras have serial numbers, and also besides, the zoom is supposed to be retracted almost flat when the camera is turned off (mine is stuck halfway), so that kind of damage would be unlikely to occur in transit.

Thanks for the suggestion, though.