Fixing my Fujifilm X-Pro3 with the failing monitor problem

(and somehow not destroying my camera in the process)

Like many other X-Pro 3 users, I feared (well, assumed) that the fold-out monitor would eventually fail. It did.

It turns out that the ribbon cable which, by necessity, is fed through the hinge gets gradually worn down as you open and close the monitor and eventually you lose both monitors. Someone found that you can buy that ribbon cable on ebay for under $30, and fix the problem yourself… if you don’t mind tearing apart your very expensive camera. I didn’t mind that risk, so I thought I’d try it myself. I started from this FB post by someone who fixed the problem. In one of the comments there are pictures of where to access the screws to open the back. I followed that, and I repeated that info here. But I’ve also added pictures of what you’ll find once you’re inside.

NOTE: these are the steps that I took, and it worked out in the end. I don’t know if I did everything correctly, electronics-wise, or if I just got lucky that I didn’t kill something with static electricity, etc. I obviously can’t guarantee that it’ll work for you. So treat this purely as an informational guide to what’s in there to help you determine whether this is something you want to tackle yourself. Follow at your own risk!

That is, I bear no responsibility if you break your camera. Obviously. If in doubt… call a professional. Or send it in to Fuji.

UPDATED: added some info about the tools at the end.

First, here’s a timelapse so you can see just how much you have to take apart to do this fix. If that doesn’t scare you off, then scroll down for the individual steps 😀.

Steps

This is the part

Here's the part that needs to be swapped in. I ordered it off of ebay. There's one here, but there are many others listed there.

Let's open it up

Take out all these screws. Keep track of them, as they are not all the same size. The single one in the middle is shorter, I think.

Take out this one screw.

Take out these two.

And this one.

Peel back the leatherette, and pull out that plug, and there's a screw there too.

Pull up the bottom edge of the leatherette here, and there are three screws.

This is a sticker. There are two screws behind there.

There was a screw here (I took it out before I took the picture. Oops.)

Flip it open.

Now we can get to the innards. The top part here is the assembly for the sub-monitor. The bottom is the main monitor. The replacement cable talks to both sections.

Detach the sub-monitor

(A) needs to be detached. Carefully... you're reattaching again later. (B) is glued on. I just pried it up. It was sticky enough to go back down later.

Set aside the sub-monitor panel and get those three screws next.

That's a big sticker. And then the strip at the top is also a sticker. I was able to peel them off in such a way that I could re-use them.

All these screws. Be careful of the little plastic piece that's hinged in there. It's just held in by a pin and pops out when this stuff is detached. You're going to need to out it back. It's fiddly.

Remove the back. Carefully.

Carefully, because that circled piece was attached to the piece that the arrow is pointing to, and I ripped it right out. Now... that's the ribbon that's getting replaced, so it's all good, but better to not rip it out.

On the monitor panel, stuff is held in place with adhesives. Work it off with some tool. Oh, this would normally be attached to the rest of the camera, but the ribbon ripped through completely so I was able to work on it separately. That's the ribbon that's getting replaced anyway. But when putting it back together this won't be separate. As for that hinged connector: I've added a video at the bottom of the page that shows how it works.

Inside back of the camera

Pull back that tape far enough to get to the stuff below. It's under that grey stuff, so I just pulled it open to there.

Pry off that bottom part, and fold the ribbon cable up and out of the way.

Pry up this piece enough to release the ribbon cable.

The ribbon passes through a hole there, and should be removed through there. Note the white lines on the ribbon cable. This is where the cable gets folded.

Put in the new cable.

Do everything backwards. Pull the new cable through that hole.

Put the black piece back, attach the bottom piece, fold the ribbon cable at the lines.

Reattach the back part to the main camera body (i.e. attach the ribbon cable there).

work your way back and attach the monitor assembly.

Test the monitor

before going any further, stick in a battery and test that the monitor is working. It is (whew!)

attach the sub-monitor assembly

Put the rest back together, with the screws that you previously carefully laid out such that it was obvious how they went back. Amazingly, it works!

REMEMBER: do this at your own risk! I may have just gotten lucky that I didn’t accidentally break something else while I was in there.

How the ribbon cable connector works

(Not all of them are like this…)

UPDATE

Someone asked about the tools, particularly the thing I’m using to peel back the leatherette, etc. Apparently that’s called a spudger. Anyway, that and the screwdriver tips were all part of this cheap set of precision screwdrivers ($20):