Canon compact zoom does not focus

[Tafia]

Hi,

My Canon A710 IS copes well when zoomed to 6 times but my wife has a Powershot A1100 IS which I now notice does not focus correctly when zoomed to its 4 X limit.

The pictures, when the camera is set on automatic or landscape appear to be what would be called "grainy" in the 35mm world and they are out of focus. Works fine when not zoomed.

The warranty ran out a few weeks ago but I was not aware of the problem as I rarely use her camera.

I have placed this question on the Canon forum but no one has responded.

Is this a known fault on these models and if so what can be done to correct it, given that the ( I assume ) 1 year warranty expired in June.

Many thanks
T.

[14-7]

One of my old Canon IXUS cameras after a year or so developed a lot of dust inside the lens. May be worth a look.

[Tafia]

Thanks.

The camera has had very little use and a Google search suggests there may be a problem with this model.

I didn't know - until I read of others with the problem - that it goes to full zoom in a series of eight stages. I had always just zoomed it in one move. It appears that if we only zoom to stage 6, then the focus is OK but if we go all the way to stage 8 then the focus is lost.

Not good in that it is only a 4 X zoom.

Cheers