I broke my camera.... twice.

I broke my camera when I was in Dubai last month.  I was in the desert... dropped the camera.... and suprise, got sand in it.  The camera would turn on and pop the lens out.  Problem was after almost completeling the startup sequence it would blink all angrily, and then close up again.  I banged on it, shook it, and it still would not stay on.  I figured there was sand stuck somewhere in the lens mechanics.  I actually though the camera was dead, and tried to get my company to cough up for a new one.  Let's just say that was a no-go.

So, rather than spending another $200 (which really my company should have covered), I decided it couldn't hurt to take it apart and try to clean it.  So I did, last weekend.  Take it apart that is. The first pucture is the camera completely apart on my dining room table.  The second is the lens mechanism. 



You can see the optical zoom component in the above picture.  It is still attached to the lens box (it is attached by two rails and can slide up and down to be put away or used for zoom).  The main lens is on the right, having been detached from the main box. 

I found a little round sand grain in the lens's gear box (upper left corner), removed it, put it all back together.  Low and behold, it worked! New camera!
I decided it would be a great idea to bring my freshly fixed spoils with me to DC last week.  I put it in a nice fabric bag, all sung and safe.  When I arrived in DC, I promptly realized I had used that same bag while in Dubai and there was sand in it.

I had to spend another hour this morning taking it apart and repeating the whole process. You think I would have learned the first time.  It's new home is going to be a plain old plastic baggie.