Disassembly – Sony A7s camera - screen hinge replacement

 In this article I’m replacing a broken screen hinge of Sony A7s camera with a new part.

Disassembly process is moderately complex due to extreme care is required for accurate screen cable detaching, and also moving that cable out from surrounding plastic and metal parts. So there is quite a high chance to break that cable, and it is recommended to run this repair only if you can also find a cable replacement if it breaks.

First step is to remove rubber eyecup and then unscrew five black bolts marked below.

Then pull out the viewfinder frame part.

Now it’s possible to move forward with unscrewing more bolts and removing rear camera plate, otherwise viewfinder fame would block it form removing.

Unscrew five bolts marked on picture, one of them is located deep inside battery compartment. Do not unscrew any other bolts at this point.

Now elevate camera screen and unscrew three bolts marked below.

Finally, unscrew one bolt near the side of camera grip.

Slowly side by side push out the whole rear frame to about half inch.

Then rotate rear frame about 30 degrees CCW, fit the screen like pictured below and remove rear plate safe – there are no ribbon cables to disconnect.

Now you have access to button controllers. Lift up the “video recording” button controller to release it, then disconnect blue ribbon cable, and finally release brown button controller board by gently sliding it to the side.

Unscrew three bolts marked below.

And the unscrew one bolt near the grip side.

And unscrew one near camera left strap connector.

At this point it is time to gently side by side pull out rear metal frame. NOTE: there is a screen ribbon cable, and sfter slight elevation you should be able to access and disconnect it from the main board.

Then pull out plastic frame marked below and very accurately remove it form the ribbon cable. Finally unscrew four tiny black bolts.

Elevate screen hinge and remove textured metal square plate. Then unscrew four bolts.

When metal plate is removed the ribbon cable has more movement freedom.

Slightly elevate far screen corners, then release two locking points on closer corners.

Lift that frames to the side slowly, and pull out the ribbon cable with care. Note – there is a small plastic sprint-like part to the right from textured black square plate – it should be inserted during screen frame assembly.

At this point all required disassembly is fully complete, and I’m using metal hinge replacement to assembly everything back in a reverse order.

The most challenging part of reverse disassembly is move screen ribbon cable through all that narrow sockets in plastic parts, so be very accurate with that process and don’t bend cable too much.

Another point is – when attaching metal frame back – make sure that button controller board is first lifted up, so you don’t jam it in.

Finally, after rear camera plate assembly, before securing it with bolts – toggle AF/MF-AEL switch to catch the controlling lever under it.

If you have any questions during assembly please let me know and I’ll reflect answers here.

Now my Sony A7s camera screen hinge works like new again and keeps screen securely positioned. I’m impressed by the high number of bolts used in assembly design, which allows to repeat this process many times if required and making camera repair easier.