Lens not moving

Hi.

I experienced the lens error message after taken the camera to the beach. Sure enough, there was sand all over the lens mechanism. First, I cleaned the area by blowing air to remove all sand particles (this took me almost a day). In my case, I did not have to remove the lens from the body of the camera. Once clean from dirt, sand or any other foreign object replace the batteries.

My guess is that the lens has some sand in it. You might just want to open the lens as much as possible and give it a good cleaning with rubbing alcohol on a cotton swab as well as blowing it out with canned air. I know it seams kinda nuts, but if cleaning it doesn't work try to manually push the lens in slightly to free up some stuck sand. Also, you could tap the camera on a hard surface with a small piece of fabric under it to try to knock out some more of the sand.
Hope that helps!

1. there's a problem inside of the camera especially the gear if the camera fell down or applying excessive force to the lens part. The gear was broken thats why it was not fully open and having weird noise inside.
2 if you went out to the beach or place a lot of dust.possible the sand or dust goes indide of the lens gear and cause of stuck up and not fully open the lens.sometimes becuase of this the gear was damage or broken and you need to bring to service center.

The best thing you could do is take it to a competent repair shop, tell them what happened, and have them fix it. If it is just sand jamming the lens cover, they shouldn't charge too much to fix it.

Alternatively, if you can move the lens covers at all, try gently working them back and forth in very small movements while holding the camera with the lens pointing down - basically just try to work the sand out and let gravity help you. Be careful though, you may get sand deeper into the camera's mechanisms this way!

Hi

There is sand in your lens and it is jamming upthe gears. One grain of sand will cause the lens to fail! You can try to take the lens apart and clean out the sand but it's not easy and an opened lens usually never focuses exactly right again.

Look for a defective camera online that has a good lens but broken LCD or some other problem and fix that one using yours as parts or have yours fixed with a new lens.

We can do a new lens install for you for about $80-90 I believe. If we can help please let us know!

Thomas D
Owner, Darntoothysam com
Affordable Digital Camera Repair

This is a common problem to digital cameras for those who take it to the beach. The problem was that there could be granules of sand in the lens and thus preventing your lens to come out.

What you need to do is to hold you camera on your right hand, with the lens facing downwards. Then turn the camera on as you gently hit it with your left palm. Do this several times until the sand comes out and your lens could retract out again.

Anyone who has ever been near the beach knows that as soon as you are within 100ft of the sand you will feel sand in between your toes even with your sneakers and socks on. That's because sand is in the air and contaminates everything. Therefore, if you value your camera, mp3 player, radio, cellular phone PDA, or laptop computer, DO NOT TAKE IT anywhere near the beach. Solution: use an air compressor. Blow air & dust through the hose first. Use clean air to blow out extended lens area. Open and close lens and blow out several times. Firmly jolt the camera into the palm of your hand to dislodge the dirt particle. Use more air. You may notice sratches on the side of the lens cylinder that were created by the particles of sand. 99% pure isopropyl alcohol (91% if you're in a pinch is available at any drug store) can also be used on a Q tip and swabbed around the lens barrel cylinder. Make sure you use a few CLEAN Q tips on the lens. Now go buy a disposible camera and $10 mp3 player for the beach and leave the $200+ camera and IPOD at home or at the hotel room. Now you'll surely have a wonderful time at the beach.

You may want to call Olympus Customer Service and discuss their repair process and procedures for sending the camera in to have the lens assembly cleaned. Their telephone number is 800-622-6372 option 2 and then option 3

You will not be able to clean out the sand yourself. The sand probably got in to the mechanics of the lens and other moving parts.

The inside of the lens is made like a watch, and is very precision for calibration. Once you open up your camera and especialy the lens, I have doubts it will ever work again!

Servicing the camera may not be cost effective. You can enquire to Casio to see what they would charge for this type of service. I would think it would be more feasible to replace the camera.

If you want to take a camera to a beach, make sure it is in a sealed containment. The water vapour, any salt spray, sand, and or sand dust will certainly cause damage to even the most expensive cameras!


Jerry G.

Hi,
'
Sand generally has no effect on the electronic side of the camera, however it will definitely can cause problems with the mechanical aspect of the camera such as the zoom lens. this can be removed with a can of compressed air.

Suntan lotion likewise should not be any problem except for smudges on the housing/casing and especially bad for the lens. Additionally, the lotion would help the sand adhere to crevices and nooks of the camera. Wiping should get you just fine.

Hope this be of initial help/idea. Pls post back how things turned up or should you need additional information.

Good luck and kind regards.

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