The battery cover on my Z1 camera is broken and does not close on one side.

This is the only flaw I have found in this great camera, but it is a major design flaw since these pieces are tiny plastic tabs and have no structural strenth at all. The camera is out of waranty, having been purchased in 2004 and Sony, who provides support for Konica Minolta ditital cameras want a flat rate of $110 to fix it. There is no place to tape or strap it in place, the only thing I have considered in drilling a small hole in the case where the tab would be and screwing it down. As it stands now, I have to hold the cover closed with my hand. The batteries seem to run down fast if I leave them in too, so I suspect there may be a short circuit with the cover partially closed. Spitting out nails here because of some stupid engineering design flaw. I really don't expect an answer, just venting because you see the same problem time and time again on any plastic part that is poorly engineered. BTW, I am an Aerospace engineer :))

Roger, you may want to contact Sony for a part. They may charge $110 to fix it, but how much for the part iself? Outside of that, how about going to eBay and picking up a parts camera? Many people who have their camera's broken sell them as parts to repair the camera.

Thanks James. Yeah, I have thought of contacting Sony or even going to a local repair shop. I checked the Sony site but they seem only interested in supporting commercial repair shops. For now, I fixed the problem by drilling a small hole in the case where the tab was and screwed it down. Seems to be working but I have to remove the screw to change and recharge the batteries, which is no big deal if it keeps working. Ebay may be an option I had not thought of and I will try that if my "fix" fails.
Roger

You could contact these guys - they do affordable camera repair. http://www.darntoothysam.com/servlet/StoreFront

Thanks for the site, I tripped and dropped my Z1 camera and broke the battery case lock and also somehow managed to lock the chip, this site gave me the solutions thank you xxxhug hug hug