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Repairing a defective flash on a Sony DSC-HX50V photo camera (when the flash pops …)

I have been using a Sony DSC-HX50V for documentation for quite some time. I bought my first one new and had it in for repair twice during the warranty period, because the flash went off. The problem was, that there was a loud bang when the flash went off, like when a capacitor blows. This was also accompanied by the smell of burnt electronics. At some point the flash didn't work at all and the banging was gone too. Unfortunately, I need the flash for 99% of my photos and after 2x repairs I had the same problem again and therefore bought a used one, also a Sony DSC-HX50V. You may guess, what happened after a year of photographing … also with this one the same problem as with my first one. I then bought a third one, used, for CHF 50.- and then looked around to see if this was a systematic problem. I found out that on this model the ribbon cable to the flash is a known weak point and likes to break. After a quick search at Ali, I found a replacement there in the form of a ribbon cable or the ribbon cable including the flash. For my first attempt I bought the ribbon cable including the soldered flash and now I want to get to work to make a first copy of my 2 defective Sony DSC-HX50V cameras functional again.

This is my Sony DSC-HX50V, it takes good pictures at close range where I mainly need it, of course only if the flash works too.

This is the defective part I had to replace, but just have a look how I repaired it.

Stupidly, the flash unit is at the very front of the camera and you have to work your way from the back to the front, which means I have to completely disassemble it. First, I open the back to remove the display.

Then I have to open various connectors for ribbon cables and remove circuit boards.

The optics unit is already out.

It's best to document everything with photos, so it's easier to reassemble later.

Now I can remove the cover plate including the flash unit.

Done! Everything is disassembled, the flash unit is in front of me (center of the picture) and I can replace the flash including the ribbon cable.

I don't know what Sony was thinking. At the top of the picture you can see the broken original cable, wrapped thickly so that it is nice and stiff and can break quickly … Below is my replacement part only with the thin ribbon cable and very flexible, which is guaranteed not to break again. I do not want to insinuate anything Sony, but if I as a manufacturer want to make customers buy a new device because the old one shortly after the warranty period is braking, so I would also wrap the cable so that it breaks quickly … :-(

I reassembled the camera (with no excess parts left) and the flash now works fine again. After this successful repair, I will also repair my second defective camera.

Here is the link to a very good video, which shows the disassembly of the Sony DSC HX50V step by step --> Video Sony DSC HX50V disassembly (flash repair)