Camera Games

Another day of mist and rain and general murkiness - lights on all day. After being rather proud of getting out and walking yesterday, despite the weather, I am sorry to report that today I barely left the house.
One job I did get done was reconstructing my Panasonic TZ100 after stripping it down to see if I could fix the lens, which was sometimes refusing to come out, and often refusing to zoom. Internet suggested there may be dust inside, and there was. I'd cleaned everything I could see and got the lens moving more easily, though I never did figure out how the zoom part could be stripped down.
There were a lot of layers, and a lot of flexi-cables to plug into very small sockets but eventually everything was together. There's good news and bad here. The good news is the camera worked and the lens popped out smoothly when I turned it on. This is an improvement on before. The bad news is the zoom still doesn't work reliably, often sticking and throwing the camera's small mind into a confusion that requires a couple of restarts to sort out.  Time to start scanning the market to see what is available.
I'm a bit disappointed in some areas of camera technology, while hugely impressed by others. When I turn on the camera, or use the zoom lens, air is pulled in to fill the expanding space. This also pulls in dust. Is that impossible to fix for a camera designer? I use my camera a lot, but mostly outside in a fairly dust-free environment. That so much dust found its way in, in only two years, seems ridiculous.
Three crucial cogwheels that actually move the lens in and out every time the camera is used are made of plastic and after two years are showing serious signs of wear. This seems faulty design to me. (I owned a Nikon several years back that simiarly died because a crucial element was plastic that wore out after three years.)
Oh well - these are minor problems compared with what many people have to put up with these days so I'll be thankful I have enjoyed my partially successful attempt at repairs and move on!