The Manic Mechanic

Sometime during the last of all the camping trips last year I had lost or misplaced the battery charger for my little Pentax Optio W30 point-n-shoot. Since my trusty Canon S230 bit the dust a few years ago, this was my only pocketable camera, save for my cell phone. I figure the only way the charger would ever show up is if I were to buy another one. I managed to find a cheap aftermarket charger and an extra battery online as the little Pentax was back in business. I was going to take it with me during the great machinery bargain hunt this past weekend. While gathering up stuff to take with me, I managed to drop the camera on the floor from about waist high. Since it's not the first time it's been dropped, I thought nothing of it. However, once at the machinery dealer, attempts to power up the camera were greeted with a brief blurry view of the viewfinder/preview, and it would shut right back off. Since the camera would play back pictures already taken, it was not a battery issue. Holding the camera to my ear while powering up, I heard the various zoom/focus/diaphragm motors rattling and straining, where there used to me a quiet buzz on powerup. Great. Apparently the fall jammed up or dislocated some moving element, and the camera was not having any of it when turning it on.

Needless to say, I was a tad miffed on just getting the charger and extra battery and looking forward to using the camera on vacation (it's also waterproof). Being the technician that I am, and having had success in dismantling broken digicams and repairing the lens elements, I figure I had nothing to lose at doing some work on the thing. But, experience being the teacher it has been all these years, I have various processes and procedures I follow. While sitting in the bathroom at the machinery warehouse, I pulled the non-functioning camera out of my pocket and began some troubleshooting. I remember which end struck the floor when dropped. I listened to the powerup sequence of motor buzzing to get my timing right. Once I figured it out, I hit the power button and performed my repair procedure.

I smacked hard the end opposite from that which the camera was dropped against the bathroom stall wall. It cheerfully powered up without a hitch from then on.

There is no piece of equipment that is above being fixed with some well-placed smacking, hammering or other jolt. I've applied the process from the most mundane gear to RF network analyzers costing a half million dollars or more. And it's always the most sheer form of delight when it does the trick.