Camera fix

A blogger without her camera is an unhappy blogger. Last week, as I was hurrying out the door to attend an appliqué class at Queen B’s Quilt Shop, I dropped my camera. The battery door flew open. I was not able to get the little door shut no matter how hard I pushed on it. I searched the web and learned that the battery door weakness was a well-known problem with Nikon Coolpix 990s. I’ve had my camera since 2002 and it’s been a faithful friend. I ran across a website called Stonepics.com that had a repair kit for the door problem.

I ordered it and it arrived promptly. When I screwed it on to the bottom of my camera the door shut tightly, but the camera still didn’t work. I tried brand new batteries. Those didn’t work either.

I panicked. I knew I could not be happy without a camera. I searched around and found a very inexpensive camera called Nikon Coolpix L22. It has 12-megapixel resolution and a 3.6x zoom. It is a basic point and shoot camera for amateurs. I certainly qualify. I ordered it and it should be in my post office box Monday.

In the meantime, I wrote to Stonepics and thanked them for prompt shipping of the kit. I told them that my camera must have other problems than the battery door. Kimsey Fowler wrote back and told me to call him and he would help me troubleshoot the camera. That was nice. I called him today. He had me do several tests. One was to check on the battery connectors (those flat springs). Sure enough, one battery spring was flat down on the bottom of the holder. He told me how to pry it up gently. I did it carefully, using an old metal meat skewer with a bent tip. I put the batteries back in the camera and it worked! I took a picture of the skewer.

Soon I’ll have two cameras. Oh boy!