Self-repair of a digital camera?

Morgoth

Oh dear. I managed to get sand inside my digital camera. Obviously this doesn't fall under the warranty.

It's a Sony DSC-W50. Can anyone advise me, if I take it apart to try and clean out the sand, will this definitely cause the camera to stop working permanently? Are cameras like hard drives, i.e. once opened they're screwed? Or have I got a chance of getting it working again by opening it and blowing/cleaning out the sand?

(the problem is the lens isn't coming fully out of the case so the initial image is blurred and any zooming makes things much worse)

If anyone can advise, cheers!

edit: er, the above is pending this: anyone know if it's even possible to open these cameras? I assumed so because of a few screws around the side but I dunno if these actually open up the innards. ;o

McPedro

Same thing happened to my camera on holliers. Sand got into the telescopic lense bit and would not close, I gave it some gentle persuesion and now it works fine.

As for takin it apart, as with all small compact appliances DONT LOOSE YOUR NERVE and try to force any part of it open. Take your time and you should have no problems and get stuff like compressed air and ear-buds...various stuff to aid you and make the dismantle easyer;)

Morgoth

I hear ya, the screws are microscopic. I've been trying to jiggle the lens around but it's still catching so I reckon I'll give it a bash soon, thanks for the moral support!