Yes, it's absolutely horrible. New Zealand is like our close cousins; in fact my sister-in-law is from there but up north.
I've been to Christchurch; it was a lovely city, and I can't bear to think of all the destruction, let alone the suffering and death. Our part of the world seems to be having more than its fair share of storms, floods, fire and now quakes.

That's weird...my reply from the other day has vanished.
Sorry about your camera :( Can you try wiping out the battery case with an absorbent cloth? Maybe leave something in there to absorb the battery fluid, and tip it upside down to encourage it to run out? That won't hurt it at least.

Repairs are SO expensive - probably more than the camera is worth now.

Maybe gently rub the terminals with fine sandpaper in case they are corroded by the battery acid- tho unlike;ly unless the batteries were in there for a long time, unused (and you'd have to be very careful not to get any sand dust in the camera itself!)

My dad used to repair cameras, was very handy when he was alive. These days, though, they're not made to repair, just throw away and upgrade, unless you get into the very expensive models.

I'm still missing my new camera that I left in the country- haven't had a chance to go and pick it up yet. I'm lucky I have my little compact Lumix, which is OK for basic shots.

I've been making more "clipart" images for my website. The bee-eater one was very popular on flickr so I had to make a better one. I did this one on the weekend and it had nearly 50 views in the first day.

Oops no the clipart is on photobucket- I get the accounts mixed up. My photobucket album is PuzzlEd_pics
My flickr ID is You Get the Picture ;)

Thanks. I teach Reading Intervention to primary school kids- and motorbikes and horses are really popular here (lots of out kids have their own horses or dirt bikes!) I like to use their interests to encourage them to read and play "reading" games.

Like your Flickr photos! You do very artistic shots with your S5is - mine are more "utility shots", I don't have the artistic eye.

Hope you get your camera going!

I'm really pleased you got it going again!!