So with a vacation to the Florida Gulf Coast looming on the horizon, it was time to do something about the lint-in-the-lens-of-my-camera issue. But first, the back story. When I was shopping for a camera, I reeeally wanted ones like Kyanne and Carissa had because it had the GPS marker and a really good lens--thoroughly researched and approved by Kyanne. Although Carissa warned me her camera had lint in the lens, the cost of repairs were prohibitive, and research proved the problem seemed inherent to the camera, I bought it anyway. Yup, you guessed it. Despite my carefulness, my camera got lint in the lens as well.
Now, on with my story....I had to decide whether to live with the very large Lint Monster showing on light backgrounds, get a new camera, or try to fix it on my own. Since we had decided to buy a new camera, I had nothing to lose if I tucked into the camera myself. I did a bit of research, grabbed myself a YouTube video and a teensy screwdriver, crossed my fingers and got started.
Note the message at the beginning of the instructional video:
"Warning, any warranty will be voided
and there is a possibility of your
camera being rendered useless.
Attempt at your own risk!
I accept no responsibility
if you decide to clean your own sensor."
It was an awesome video, and by following along with the soft-spoken man with the pleasant British accent I managed to disassemble my camera. Since I hadn't previewed the video I just hoped his assembly instructions were as awesome as the disassembly instructions. By the way, although I kept track of those tiny little screws, this is the last time I saw my SD card.
Starting the assembly process...Wish me luck!
Yippee! Not only did I get the camera back together, it worked! Here the camera proudly displays a picture of the canned air I was using for it's resurrection.
Saturday morning we set out for Griot's Garage for morning coffee and donuts...er...I mean, to go to Griot's Caffeine and Gasoline monthly car show. Although it was extremely foggy out, wishful thinking led us to take the convertible Jaguar out for some exercise. We had a nice trip in heated seats, people took pictures at the show, I had my free donut and coffee and we were home by 9:45 with nary a ray of sunshine to be seen.
This is one of the cars in Griot's showroom. Since Griot's is all about car detailing, their cars are amazing-shiny. Bob has officially started the restoration of his 1968 Jaguar XKE but we do not expect it to come out looking this shiny...or to magically become a convertible in the process, but it will definitely be an improvement over the condition it's in now.
While we were there, a flashy Corvette was parked in one of the disabled spaces and the driver was putting his wheelchair together to go see the show. Obviously he was a military vet and it was verified by his Marine plate. I've never seen a disabled parking pass like this one on his dash.
Check out his cool car. It's good to see this veteran Marine leading an active life after his service to our country. Note he is parked in true Marine style of "If you don't like how I park,TOO BAD."
Note to readers: Bob has officially started the restoration of his 1968 Jaguar XKE and I will be dedicating the end of my blogs to document the restoration process so my parents can follow along. This Jag belonged to them from 1970 - 2005 when they passed it along to us. Those of you not interested in the resto process of an old car need not read any further.
Since this will be a project long chapter in my blog, I will start out with with a bit of history. Dad bought this car in 1970 while we lived in California. We moved to Washington and the little guy tagged along. It was one of the first cars I drove, I hauled my horse to horse shows in it and I hauled hay and grain home from the feed store in it. It made numerous trips back and forth to Oklahoma City for Dad's career training. In 2005 Dad decided the old war horse should be put out to pasture here in our yard so he sent it out to us in 2005.
The car arrived here a bit tattered after it's 37 years of loyal service. This is the Jag right after we collected the car and trailer from the transporter.
As you can see, the paint is a little rough and the car needs a general overall cleaning.
Bob spent hours wet-sanding the clear coat off the car and cleaning every nook and cranny he could find then polishing it within an inch of it's life afterward. Griot's Garage car products stock probably went up with all the stuff he bought, but it looked great after he was done. He also scrubbed the inside and painted the interior leather while I made new seat covers for the cracked leather seats.
As projects usually go around our house, Bob sprang out of his chair late one night and declared he wanted to go open one of the little bubbles in the paint to see how much rust was lurking there. This would also signal the beginning of the resto since there was no turning back after he punctured the paint.
Again, true to his usual form, there's no "just this one step" in his vocabulary. After he opened the paint, he scraped and sanded through more bubbles that were growing under the old paint to see how big a job he's up against. He was very happy to see that there was NO rust. There is some body filler because two different folks had reverse-ramped up over the hood at stop signs and caused some Bondo-worthy damage.
Little does Bob know that the car restoration is probably the not biggest obstacle he will be up against. Although I bill my time in the garage as "helping", Bob does not seem overly grateful of this "gift".
Oddly, I was unwilling to stabilize the bonnet (a.k.a. hood) while Bob power-washed the crud off the inside. Doing it while the bonnet was still on the car was more awkward for him, but easier on the marriage since I don't think he could have resisted "accidentally" sending a rogue spray my direction.
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