# Dust And Fibres Inside A Compact Camera



## Sir Alan (Sep 10, 2010)

We own a compact Panasonic Lumix TZ18 which is perfect for me to take photos of my watches and especially as I work on them.

About a month ago my wife mentioned there was a problem with the camera, she didn't really say what but just that it was preventing her using it for her work. I hadn't noticed any problems - I almost exclusively use it in macro mode for close ups.

Last November we won a Â£200 Amazon voucher at a gala dinner and this seemed to be a perfect opportunity to spend it and get a new camera. We decided on the latest Panasonic Lumix, the TZ60

When this arrived a couple of weeks ago, it meant that I got 'ownership' of the TZ18, so I started carrying it around with me. I took this picture last week (on full zoom):



and immediately saw the problem.

A foreign object inside the camera. I tried blowing into the lens, all this did was fog up the lens and when this cleared I now had two of these objects. Grrrr.

Oh well. Given that we had a new camera, I decided to take the camera apart and clean it. I found several really good youtube videos for the TZ camera range, this video deals with cleaning the sensor:






and this one the lens assembly:






It is a very fiddly process and there several significant differences between the camera in the video and the TZ18.

I didn't take any photos, so this post is not a blow by blow account of what to do or how to do it. More just that it can be done.

For my camera there was dust on all of the lenses (but not the sensor) and also several fibres (this is what was causing the problem on the pictures).

The inner lens assembly (the one that sits directly in front of the sensor) is actually two lenses that sandwich together on a sprung housing. Cleaning the inside faces of these was the hardest part of the cleaning process.

I'm pleased to say that once I figured out how to get the lens assembly back together correctly, and once I had re-assembled the camera it actually worked!!!!!

I had to repeat the process today because yesterday when I did it I focussed more on getting it back together (and working) than on actually ensuring I kept the dust and fibres out.

Today it was much easier (and quicker). Here's a quick (boring) picture I took afterwards:



I would put this type of work on a par with working on a watch. The parts are not as small, but the way they assemble together to work as a whole is very similar.


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## Faze (Mar 1, 2013)

Well done mate, nice bit of job satisfaction coming your way :thumbup:


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## Haggis (Apr 20, 2009)

Very impressive, I have fixed and cleaned 35mm before, encouraging to know digital can be fixed too.


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## Sir Alan (Sep 10, 2010)

I have been gloating all day :yes:

I spent about 3 hours on this yesterday afternoon - the wife popped her head into the room just at the moment when I was coming to the conclusion that whilst I may get all the parts back together, they would never actually work again!!!

I made one mistake and one false assumption.

The mistake was not properly understanding how all the lens assembly parts fitted together so that they worked correctly. I got them together several times, but they didn't actually work. On the third attempt I did get it right. This took a lot of thinking and observing - for those of us old enough to remember, think Krypton Factor.

The false assumption was that I could test the lens functioning without fully assembling the camera. To save time (ha ha), I didn't put the back panel on, this holds some of the buttons and also the LCD screen. Without this fitted (and connected via the ribbon cable) the camera powered on, and the lens assembly moved, but it did not initialise fully. This left me thinking that I had assembled the lens assembly incorrectly when actually I hadn't.

In case anyone is reading this and is attempting a similar repair, there is a ribbon cable that connects the lens assembly to the sensor assembly (it plugs into a quick release connector on the sensor assembly).

The first thing is to disconnect it from the sensor assembly (via the quick release).

In order to take the lens assembly apart, it then needs to be unclipped from the one of the inner housings. It appears to be fixed in place (so can't be pulled out) but there is a plastic tag over it which if gently lifted upwards allows the ribbon cable to be pulled out.


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## dobra (Aug 20, 2009)

Good work there Sir Alan. I have a TZ where the zoom lever doesn't function fully. May try stripping it... 

Mike


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## William_Wilson (May 21, 2007)

I wonder if the accumulation of crap occurred during manufacture or over time? It might be wise to keep the camera in a dust proof case, or Ziploc bag while idle, in case the ingress occurs over time.

Later,

William


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