This article shows Fujifilm X-E1 camera partial disassembly to access internal modules that may require replacement when broken.
Disclaimer: Fujifilm X-E1 camera is provided for this article by Metalman844. This camera is not powering up, and instead of being sold for parts it got donated in purpose of writing a guide that may be helpful for other people. Thank you Metalman844 for your contribution!
I’ve performed initial disassembly and realized in the process that some bolts are not necessary to be removed at the moment they are getting exposed. I’m going to label most bolts and mention them in the order of disassembly. It’s important to memorize exact bolt position since they all have different thread, length and diameter.
REMOVING LEATHERETTE
Before the disassembly, you need to accurately remove the leatherette from the X-E1 camera body. Gently peel it from the edge and use flat metal tool to grab it from the glued side. If everything done slowly and accurately – glued layer will remain on the opposite side and it can be reused after assembly to put all covering back. It’s not the first time I’m removing leatherette, and this process takes about 5 minutes. Afterwards I’m storing pieces on flat plastic surface with glue layer facing down. This plastic is flat and smooth, so glue does not stick to it too hard to be removed later easily.
Note – rubber grip also need to be removed to provide access to four more bolts.
MARKINGS
At this point I’m marking bolts using letter and number, where:
T – bolts belongs to the top plate
F – bolts screwed into front plate
R – bolts of the rear plate
S – bolts that are holding rear screen metal frame
B – few bolts that are holding main board
DISSASSEMBLY
Following bolts need to be unscrewed first. I’d recommend to put them separately in the order you are removing bolts, so during the assembly it is easier to follow this guide in the reverse order.
R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, R8, R9, R10, R11
After that accurately elevate the rear plate a little and tilt it to the right to first get access to the first ribbon cable, that is connecting the rear dial buttons to the board. Accurately disconnect this cable.
After that disconnect thin screen cable, then flip up the black lock strip, and disconnect wide screen cable.
I’m also marking five bolts visible on the metal plate holding rear screen.
At this point you can replace the rear screen if it is broken, and also clean the plastic screen protector from the inside. If there is a need to replace or clean the rear dial buttons, it is possible to do by unscrewing visible bolts and removing green plate. Note – the sound unit is soldered to the board, so handle it accurately. I’m not going to touch this area and will move with more complex steps of camera internals.
There is one more exposed bolt in the tripod mount area.
Bolts marked with T10 and T11 are just holding the neck strap rivers connected to the top plate, you don’t need to unscrew them, unless you need to replace these rivets.
Next step is to unscrew following bolts:
S1, S2, S4, S5, S6, F1, F2, F3, F4
Then remove the plastic part of the hand grip – there will be one more bolt under the neck strap rivet (on the picture below). Let’s call it S7, and unscrew it too.
Last bolt to unscrew is the S3. Technically you need to remove the left buttons board first, but I didn’t find how to do it safely without damaging it (please let me know in the comments if you have suggestions). I’ve used very thin JIS 0000 screwdriver and unscrewed it from the side while slowly elevating screen frame metal plate to no let the bolt head touch the left buttons board, because there are tiny electronic plate details right near the bolt head that may be damaged if pressed by bolt head.
At this point slowly elevate the screen metal frame plate a little up, and accurately tilt to the left side to get access to another ribbon cable that is connecting left buttons board to the main board. At this point you can also replace this cable if broken, or replace the left buttons board if needed.
Now you have access to the rear area of the main board with numerous Fujifilm chips and frightening (at least for me) number of ribbon cable connectors. Note – numerous of these cable connectors have lock mechanism, so pay attention and unlock them first by flipping lock plate up first, and only disconnect cable after that. There is a protective foam bar sticket on top of EVF ribbon cable connector, accurately remove it first. Also there is a protective film on top of power cables right under the rear dial wheel. Accurately disconnect four ribbon cables marked on picture below, and also elevate the protective film using some plastic tool to avoid shortcut of electricity that is still hold by the flash unit capacitor.
During my first disassembly I unscrewed T10 and T11 bolts, so neck strap rivets fell off. This is optional step.
If you plan to just deal with X-E1 top plate, disconnecting four ribbon cables is enough, though there will be also pair of power cables soldered to the capacitor. However if you plan to also remove the main board, you need to also unlock and disconnect four ribbon cables listed on picture below.
After disconnecting top four ribbon cables, accurately lift up top plate and tilt it to the left, watch carefully to not stretch or break two power cables under the EVF
It is possible just position top plate like shown before without extracting capacitor. Though if you need to remove it too, I’d recommend to use protective rubber gloves and discharge capacitor first by connecting a large light bulb to it (e.g 20Wt). Otherwise it may bite you with electrical shock, or cause electronics burnout.
At this point I decided to check the area of top plate rotating dials and power switch. I’ve accurately disconnected adhesive tape and elevated top copper plate. That’s interesting to discover a human fingerprint on the copper plate under it. I think Fujifilm factory personnel have to use rubber gloves during the assembly, though this plate could be touched before put into the camera. Copper can easily memorize your finger prints by the oxidation, so don’t touch it directly unless you want to leave one more fingerprints.
I’m unscrewing 5 bolts visible on the green board and accurately tilt it to the left, because power cable is soldered there and can not be disconnected.
At this point you can clean up board contacts of rotating dials. The gray rectangular with small tail – is a power On/Off switch, and square bar – is a focus button.
Don’t forget to clean contacts of the rotating dials. At this step you can also replace these two dials if needed, but the power/shutter button has glue protection on the securing bolts (or perhaps it is soldered underneath) so I didn’t remove it.
Elevating main board is a bit tricky, because it is held on place by left camera plugs cage. I did it somehow without dismounting battery socket connectors, but for more safe disassembly don’t do that, check how to remove sockets below. Here I’m just sharing taken pictures at that point.
After exploring more safe way to disassemble further I’ve put board back on its place. Also to remove the board first you need to unscrew one bolt in the area of EVF cable socket (covered with white sticker which I removed), and one bolt near the left side of battery door.
Capacitor can be extracted from it’s cage after tiling outward plastic holder near its top edge.
Then you need to pull out two battery socket connectors, and also unscrew small bolt holding the focus illumination lamp board.
Slowly pull it from battery cage. Then keep elevating board and pull audi/HDMI connectors out of the left cage.
With main board detached you can inspect its opposite area closely. Also at this point you can remove and replace the EVF unit if needed.
To remove the battery cage, remove the metal cover first that has fort locking brackets near edges. Then unscrew two bolts and remove cage.
Here is a view to the shutter area from the right side.
To remove the capacitor cage with connectors frame, remove two bolts and pull it up.
The view to the left side of shutter area.
Here is location of main drive controlling the shutter.
And one more view to the shutter mechanics.
At this point I’m assembling camera back in a reverse order. Make sure you’ll connect all cables and use bright line markings on the board to align them properly before locking cable sockets.
After connecting screen cables check the screen surface for any dust or accidental marks and wipe them (I had one mark in top right corner visible on picture.
BRIEF CONCLUSIONS
Fujifilm X-E1 camera is very well designed and can be repaired by parts and modules replacement with moderate effort if performed by skillful technician or experienced DIY person. Though there are numerous fragile ribbon cables and connectors that requiring extreme care, also few soldered cables are making disassembly more difficult, though still possible without unsoldering. It was lots of fun to explore Fuji X-E1 and realize how well it is engineered with lots of attention to details. At the time of release it was high end $$$$ USD camera made of premium materials and built to last long. I’d count it already as a great vintage Fuji equipment, and if you got one to shoot with – it also perform excellent producing great pictures with very rich color tones. And now you have some extra information in case some minor repair is required for your camera copy, which you can use or share to the technician who decide to help you with such repair.
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