I turn on my carmera and it beeps three times and a error message appaers E18

I have had ths camrea for 5 years, this is the first time I've seen this error turning on the carmera three beeps and then a E18 appears in the lower corner of the LCD then the camera turns off, tried recharging the battery same thing happens

We get this often. Try this website www.e18error.com. It is pretty helpful. Essentially, it may have gone out of alignment off the rails slightly.

There's an entire website devoted to this. In a nutshell, Canon E18 error happens when the lens gets stuck while trying to extend. The camera will beep a few times and the LCD will display a little E18 in the lower-left corner. The lens gets stuck in the extended position, and refuses to move either to focus the lens or to retract when powered off.

If your camera is still under warranty, the best thing you can do have Canon should fix it.

If your camera is out of warranty, or if Canon refuses to repair it for free, the one thing you can try is to If you gently, and I do mean GENTLY push against the lens with the PALM of your hand as you turn it on, it may cause it to depress back into the camera. If that doesn't work, and you can't reset it or turn it on/off several times, then you may have to send it in for a repair estimate anyway.

Be advised, however, that if it's out of warranty, it may cost more to repair than it is really worth. The rule of thumb is that if the estimate for repair is north of 50% what you paid for it, you're better off taking that money and buying a newer and upgraded model.

If you gently, and I do mean GENTLY push against the lens with the PALM of your hand as you turn it on, it may cause it to depress back into the camera. If that doesn't work, and you can't reset it or turn it on/off several times, then you may have to send it in for a repair estimate.

The thing is the lens isn't out, I checked out the the website no help for my problem. Thanks for your answer

Bummer

As far as I know, there is a way to fix this without paying a dime. I fixed at least 4 of my cameras with this trick. If you want to try, keep reading and act at you own risk.

-Place a single-folded bath towel on the edge of a table.
-Tap slightly the bottom of the camera (near the lens) serveral times to the covered table edge.
-Turn the camera on to check if lens is coming out freely.

You might need to perform the tapping more times to get results.

S400 should be good by tapping the bottom. If failed, try to tap the side of the camera which is closer to the lens.

There were tons of camera owners out there with the camera lens E18 fixed by the above trick. I just wonder why you couldn't find any information regarding this E18 quick fix.

Anyway, good luck when trying. Be gentle, tap with sense. Just shake but not break the lens internal parts.

A good suggestion, Paul. Finese, along with some good cushioning can do a great deal.

I'll keep on trying this tapping and shaking , no luck yet!

The suggested trick is good to have results for cameras that are kept and handled with care, but the internal zoom lens component got stuck due to misalignment occurred. Gentle tapping can sometimes help to shake it back on track. Most people out there are having this problem.

There are other factors that may contribute to the E18.
-Dirt/sand or sticky stuff get on the lens barrel which causes the lens jammed.
-Dirt/sand or sticky stuff get between the protective cover blades and the lens front cover.

In order to obatin a better idea of what's going wrong with your camera, please tell me what the lens is doing when you power up the camera. You have to give details like the close and open of the protective cover, the extending and retracting movements of the lens, the sound of the motor driving the lens in/out (is it normal?).

I work 4-12 midnight, that's why can only reply after midnight or late morning.

I'd also recommend this site ... others who are suffering from e18 may have different solutions to try as well.

Sorry, I over-looked "The thing is the lens isn't out".
You may want to check the lens protective cover blades first to see if they are stuck. Try use a very pointed toothpick to go between the opening of the cover blades and slightly move each one of the blade if they can go all the way under the front cover.
If your result is both blades are moved in freely. Proceed to check the lens barrels.

Since the lens right now is totally flushed in the body, it is hard to see if they got stuck due to sand/dirt or sticky stuff. This is a more complicated cleaning process when dealing with lens barrels. Therefore I still want to wait till you finish the cover blades checking or the 'tapping' trick. Let me know if you want to do the lens barrel cleaning yourself next time.

OK here what has happened, did the tapping with no luck, so I started turning on and off the power by releasing the battery access latch which makes a noise and kept doing this a number of times. Guess what the lens came out my LCD was in reset mode with the new date and time step, it's taking pictures and closing anf opening BUT there is a different sound to the lens area when it opens and closes , not as smooth as before all this started THANKS for the tips

Check the body of the lens barrels when it's out. Remove any traces of dirt/sticky stuff. Same as the front protective cover blades.
If no traces of dirt or anything, use your index finger gently flick the side edge of the lens ring while the lens is extended. To be sure no accident during flicking, set the camera auto power off to 'OFF', hold the lens front with two fingers and perform the flicking with the other hand's index finger. This action is to release the presure between the protective cover blades and the front cover of lens surround by a metal ring. The edge of this ring is the part to be flicked. Some situation is the pins inside that located on a turning disc designed to rotate inorder to open the protective covers got off track a little bit, the flicking/tapping can help to shake it back.
With the present condition, I suggest to gently flick the lens ring edges a bit, turn the camera on and off couple more times to make the mechanism to sit back better in place after being stuck for quite some time.