I think my camera has something stuck in the lensss. help!!!?

Question

last christmas i got an olympus f-280 digital camera. a few weeks ago i took it on vacation to the beach. i dont remember the camera getting anywhere near sand or anything. but the day i got home i tried turning it on and the lens goes in and out trying to focus and makes a loud beeping sound like it is struggling. when i try to zoom in it shuts off. i dont know what to do. it still takes pictures it just will not zoom and takes forever to turn on and off because of the excessive adjusting. any ideas?? someone on another site mentioned that it could have something to do with the lens motor? not sand at all. so idk.

Answer 1

It is not the sand at the beach that kills compact electronic devices.  It is the salt in the mist and breeze.  The salt eats away the the small metallic parts, crystallize in crevices causing stoppages, and shorts out electronics.

Check your warranty card that came with the camera.  According to Olympus, you have a one year warranty on your digital imaging product.  http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_sectio...  The contact information is on the link.

You will probably need to locate the receipt.  If the receipt is lost, the purchaser can usually take their credit card (or a credit card statement) to the store, and the store can cross reference the purchase to provide a new receipt or purchasing statement.   If it was a gift from a store that provides gift receipts like Target, the purchaser should have put the gift receipt with the present or kept the original.