Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I started getting the E:61:00 message yesterday and I had a wedding to attend. I was so bummed that I missed taking candids of my friends but more so I have a toddler who is changing every day and I hated to think I wouldn't be able to take weekly shots of her. BUT I tried the banging 3 times on the tabletop on the side of the camera with the lens and BINGO - it's fixed. No expensive and weeks-long repair. Thanks to the internet and for everyone for sharing this handy fix!

Unbelievable ! After the third try the camera was working again ! It was a torture to let it fall, but i did it ! Thanks a lot !

i have just bought this camera and had the same problem. one swift smack on a wooden surface and it works! you lot r geniuses and i love you!

same problem as all the others with the E61 error. Tried smacking it, dropping it, pushing the lens back in, etc with no luck. Took the battery out and waited, still no luck. Took the battery out then dropped it - works like a charm. Keep trying things until it works...

Giving the camera a firm smack 3 times worked for me, too. crazy...

WOW! this is amazing, u guys have really helped me out! i was very sceptical about dropping my camera to fix it, i usually like to keep things looking pristine. I decided to tap the thing first harder and harder...and then i thought screw it...if it doesnt work n e way what harm is it gonna do and i was sure as hell that i wasn't gonna pay for help! so i dropped my camcorder about 6 inches of the floor onto ..well my hard carpeted floor and can u believe it..its works!!!" i am in shock and amazement. seriously guys if you are getting the e:16:00 error try this out..it wont hurt!

I have a somy camerecorder TRV33E, and have the same error E:61:00 and noise with zoom, need help. Thanks to all

Hello! I've had the same kind of problems. The lens didn't retract (if I didn't force it), zoom and AF didn't work, and error E:61:00 did show after turning the camera on. After foru months of having the camera broken I've tried the "dropping method" (I've smacked it hard on the table, once) and it worked! Greetings from Poland :-)

Thanks for the tips! My symptoms were slightly different. Still the E:61 error, but the lense wouldn't pull back into the camera when powered off. The camera only focused up close; zoom didn't work. I flicking the side of my camera lense three times firmly while the camera was off did the trick. I turned it back on and the camera worked like a charm!

It f**cking worked !!