Sand in Camera

ChristopherUno

Hi guys,

First off sorry if this is the wrong forum, bit new to this. I have a problem with my digital camera. Was in the desert recently and took my digital camera along. It's a Panasonic Lumix model, though I don't have the exact model number with me right now, if it makes a difference I can post it later.

Anyway, we climbed to the top of a big sand dune. Last time I was in the desert we ran down, after slogging the whole way up (over an hour) it felt good to reach the bottom in four minutes. But when I took my camera from my pocket to take a photo of our path the lens went funny.

When I turn on my camera the protective shutter opens and the lens usually comes out a tiny bit (maybe a half cm as opposed to about an inch normally), makes some whirring sounds as it attempts to focus, then a message comes up telling me to turn off the camera and turn it on again. A week of doing this hasn't worked. The lens sometimes opens full but still doesn't focus and the same message comes up.

I brought it to a place here but as my Chinese isn't the best when it comes to the technicalities of cameras I didn't really get anywhere, except that he said that there was too much sand in it and he couldn't do anything with it.

So my question is when I get home and can speak properly to someone about it (i.e. in English) do you think it might be possible to fix? And would it be inordinately expensive to do so?

Thanks for your help, I'm utterly clueless when it comes to cameras!

Paulw

Nothing worse than sand in the mechanism. It will need a proper service, to remove the sand and make sure nothing is clogging the motor.

Calina

Paulw wrote: »

Nothing worse than sand in the hechanism. It will need a proper service, to remove the sand and make sure nothing is clogging the motor.

I beg to differ.

salt water is definitely worst. Definitely.

Heebie

Hopefully you can find a place that will clean out the sand for less than it would cost for a new camera.

If you read the other posts here.. you'll find that you were lucky you were in the desert.. and not at an oceanfront beach... if you had enough sand to wreck the camera AND enough saltwater to wreck the camera.. you'd really be fecked.

zerohamster

Depending on the value of the camera it might be cheaper to just buy a new one unfortunately.
What model of camera is it?

Repeatedly turning the camera on and off (to keep opening and retracting the lens) will only make it worse and destroy the gears inside which are clogged so refrain from doing that as it will not help.
The reason for that is that the sand will stick to the lubricating grease on the lens mechanisms and focusing mechanism causing it to jam and lock up, forcing the mechanism will break the gears, gear teeth or other moving parts or blocked parts in the lens.

I hope this helps

ChristopherUno

Thanks guys for the advice. Hopefully I'll not have to get a new one but if it's unavoidable it's unavoidable. In Hong Kong in a few days and will get it properly checked out there.

And yeah I didn't think of the sand wrecking the gears and stuff, I sort of figured I'd just be working the sand out of it somehow! I'll take consolation from the fact I didn't drop it in the ocean.

Cheers for the advice and here's hoping.

thefly

ChristopherUno wrote: »

Thanks guys for the advice. Hopefully I'll not have to get a new one but if it's unavoidable it's unavoidable. In Hong Kong in a few days and will get it properly checked out there.

And yeah I didn't think of the sand wrecking the gears and stuff, I sort of figured I'd just be working the sand out of it somehow! I'll take consolation from the fact I didn't drop it in the ocean.

Cheers for the advice and here's hoping.

Eh if your in Hong Kong get a new camera.................trust me!!!!

melekalikimaka

sand equals dead camera. cut your loses, hong kong has great deals, your card is saved so take the images, camera repairs for p and s are stupidly high, usual over value of camera

Thecageyone

Right, if you're going to give up on it anyway, have a go at forcing the lens to turn out. It happened to me with an old camera, some grit got jammed around the lens and it wouldn't protrude fully, and an error would come up. In a rage i literally grabbed the front of the lens as it attempted to come out, and gave it a twist. This obviously crushed the grit that was jamming it and it released. Camera still works now. Though it's only the kids who use it.

zerohamster

Thecageyone wrote: »

Right, if you're going to give up on it anyway, have a go at forcing the lens to turn out. It happened to me with an old camera, some grit got jammed around the lens and it wouldn't protrude fully, and an error would come up. In a rage i literally grabbed the front of the lens as it attempted to come out, and gave it a twist. This obviously crushed the grit that was jamming it and it released. Camera still works now. Though it's only the kids who use it.

Unfortunately that will definitely just damage the camera even rendering it beyond an easy repair. It would actually be better to open it yourself and try to clean it out than to force it as the success rate will be higher for opening it rather then forcing it. sand is harder then the plastic gears which equals stripped gears and broken parts, if some sand was dislodged it would just dirty the lens anyway.

If opening the camera just write down the steps you take and take a logical approach never forcing anything, if the parts doesnt clip of or screw off unless you are bending it...you have missed something you need to do first to open it.
The casing is probably the most difficult thing to remove as it will probably have clips on it that need to be levered and that you cant see easily.
Also watch out for the capacitor inside as it can hold a nasty shock if charged and probably will be still charged (google capacitor if you dont know what it looks like and you will see what they look like usally.

Good luck!

Thecageyone

Worked for me as I said, but that was just more your ordinary garden grit. Sand would be harder alright. But do it lightly, it might just crush and free, or ... open her up. Either way I only suggested that if he was already resigned to dumping it.

Kintarō Hattori

OP why not look at one of the weatherproof cameras such as the Pentax WP90. These things are water, dust and shock proof to a good degree. There are similar offerings from Sony, Canon and Nikon I'm sure. A good idea perhaps if you plan on getting adventurous again.




http://www.pentaximaging.com/digital-camera/Optio_W90_Orange

ChristopherUno

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm not entirely resigned to sending my camera to the big pile of electronic parts in the sky (or Ghana) just yet, I'll see if I can get it fixed first, but good to know that HK is a good place to buy electronics, should make things easier either way.

I did try what you said cageyone, and it works, the lens comes out the full distance and focuses, but when you click the button to take a photo it again fails to focus and shows the error message. It sounds fecked to be honest but I'm not gonna dump it just yet. And I dunno if I trust myself opening it up, especially with the shocky bits inside. I'm very untechnical.

Yeah Kintarō I read an article about them recently, comparing the Sony and another I can't remember. They said that the picture quality of them wasn't the best though, which sort of put me off the idea of them. I suppose the Canon and Nikon would be better quality? I'll definitely check them out when I'm in HK.

ChristopherUno

Thanks for the help lads and ladies, got the camera fixed in Hong Kong, cost e55, about 1/6 the price of the camera. They replaced the whole lens and I collected it the day after I dropped it in. Seemed like good value to me but I have no idea really, never had to get something like that done before. Didn't find the cameras all that cheap in HK, I've been living on the mainland too long!