My digital camera is sick.

My Samgsung SL720 has not been the same since I had it sent to a repair depot. Previously, the LCD screen went on the fritz when two rows of pixels washed out and would only display white. Since I only owned the camera for seven months at that time, it was within the default limited warranty; so I called Samgsung and they told me to send it in to one of their repair locations. (I think it might have been in California.)

About a week later the camera comes back and the screen was replaced, so I thought that everything was fine. I was wrong: The camera is not fine. Ever since I received the camera after its "repair," it has had another weird problem: There is something wrong with the battery compartment. Something was amiss when, a week after I got my camera back, I went to recharge the battery and the charging indicator light does not light up. I thought I simply didn't plug the general purpose USB cable into the camera, so I double-checked. The same problem occurred again. I knew the battery still had some juice in it, so I tried to turn on the camera, and it didn't turn on.

Confused, I opened the battery compartment, removed the battery and closely inspected it. It looked fine to me. So I re-inserted the battery into the battery compartment and the camera started right up. It would also start charging. (Samsung is too cheap to include a separate charger for its proprietary battery, which means the battery has to be in the camera and the camera has to be plugged into a USB port, or into its proprietary outlet plug. I scream shenanigans on that design layout.)

The only conclusion I can glean from this weird malfunction is that there is some kind of obstruction between the battery and the copper contacts that come in contact with the battery. Or maybe the copper contacts that pull power from the battery aren't fully connected to the camera itself. Last night I took my mini-flashlight and shined it into the battery compartment, but I don't see any kind of dirt or grime that might interfere with the transfer of power from the battery, to the contacts, to the camera.

Color me confused.

I'm wondering, if Samsung, in its effort to save money on repairs, accidentally caused more damage in my camera. I'm wondering if I should call Samsung again and have them (try to) repair my camera again since there is an obvious electrical malfunction somewhere inside my camera.

Since I discovered this malfunction, I've dealt with it...until yesterday. Since I owned the camera I make it a common practice to remove the battery whenever it is done charging, and whenever I'm not going to use it for longer than a day. Yesterday I took some pictures of the wandering cat, and then I removed the battery. I realized the battery was pretty damn hot. That weird affect has never happened before. Is there an electrical problem in my camera?

Even though Samsung makes good cameras, I'm not going to deal with them if they constantly have hardware issues. I had a similar LCD problem with my Samsung Digimax A7, but I was lucky in the fact I bought an extended warranty through Sears, where I bought my camera.

I was really hoping I could get more use and life out of this camera, as I did with the Digimax A7, but if this camera cannot even handle a year of gentle use, then I'll wash my hands of it and move on. I mean, if the goddamn battery explodes because of some crossed wires, I'll just suck it up and buy myself a modest DSLR with a nice general purpose lense.

Cheap electronics are cheap, I guess.

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