Well I’d planned on spending the evening snapping pics and scratching out the next part in the inkjet and servo lab series, but when I pulled my trusty Olympus SP-350 out of the backpack, I discovered it made some odd grinding noises, extended and retracted the lens a couple times eventually displaying “Zoom Error” on the screen. ARGH!!!
After turning it off and on a few times I finally admitted to myself that it wasn’t going to get fixed that way.
A few weeks ago I’d successfully managed to perform a pocket-lint cockroach from the screen inside my iPhone 3GS, so I decided I’d try my hand at one of the more difficult surgical procedures known to consumer electronics.
2 1/2 hours of tiny cables, connectors, wires and screws and several false-starts at sub-assembly removal later, I’d found the culprit, and had it all back together. A single crumb probably from the folds of my backpack in between two teeth of the zoom mechanism. Guess I should use the camera case after all.
In the midst of the procedure I remembered this clip from an old movie. I have to say I felt I could relate, but also felt I’d triumphed over the limitations of my so-called race.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96iJsdGkl44[/youtube]
