Why did it break?!!

Unfortunately, Konica/Minolta is out of the camera business and with the relative age of your camera, it's definitely outside that warranty. There was, however, a string of faulty CCDs that struck about a dozen different camera manufacturers a few years back, Konica/Minolta being one of them. But I haven't seen the Z2 as being part of the recall. You can, however, check with SONY about it. Yes, Sony. SONY is the company that does service/repair on those models. I'd check with them.

Another possibility is condensation in the camera. This can cause a camera not to work if excessive moisture is inside. A Washington Post reporter who accidentally dropped his Blackberry in the toilet was able to retrieve it and dry it out to working order again: by leaving it turned off in a bowl of uncooked rice. Reader Chris writes in to say:

There's a grain of truth (punny, huh?) to this in that rice quickly sucks up the surrounding moisture. Make sure the environment is free from excess humidity, drop the wet device in a container of rice and let it sit. For a better desiccant, it'd be a good idea to store all those little silica gel packets that come in anything from shoe boxes to moisture-sensitive gadgets.


But understand that outside of that, and if it isn't covered under the factory recall, the average cost of a camera repair is around $180. As such, 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.