Chak Wong
In 2011 I bought a Panasonic ZS8 — 16X, 14 megapixels, 1/2.3-inch CCD — a nice travel camera. But soon after it developed a case of “worms”, smudges that looked like small wiggly worms on all my jpegs. The lens surface was clean, so the worms must have been inside. Luckily the camera was still under warranty. When it came back from Panasonic, the worms were gone. But there was no explanation as to what the problem was. My email inquiries went unanswered.
A few months later, the worms were back with a vengeance. They had multiplied! By that time the warranty was over. It was uneconomical to pay for repairs, which might not last anyway. What to do? Junk it? When in doubt, go to the fount of all knowledge, the Internet. There I found a Mr Graham Houghton, calmly sitting in his house near Manchester, England, ready with an answer for me.
Mr Houghton says the worms are actually dust or pollen sucked into the camera by the zooming action of the lens. The dust particles adhere to the infrared filter (in front of the sensor). After explaining the causes, Mr Houghton proceeds to demonstrate how the camera can be repaired. Numerous tiny screws and a few miniscule ribbon cables are removed before the infrared filter is reached. The actual cleaning is done by an air blower.
The instructions are clear but the task was beyond my clumsy fingers. So I asked a friend who routinely dismembers computers to do it for me. It took him less than an hour to complete the job.
Mr Houghton has other You Tube offerings for the Do-It-Yourselvers; for example, how to construct an optical viewfinder using parts from a cannibalised point-and-shoot camera; how to construct a quick-release camera holder for the brolly (for those rainy days); etc.
He reminds me of Keith Stewart, the main character in Nevil Shute’s Trustee From the Toolroom. In the novel, Stewart is a columnist for Miniature Mechanic. His lucid, modest prose and helpful letters garners followers worldwide, who in turn help him when he needs help most.
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