I own a Samsung PL200 camera. However, I believe a bit of sand got into it and now the zoom no longer works. Not only can I not zoom in or out, but when I view my pictures when on the camera, I can not zoom into the photos. Any ideas? Many thanks.

Hi Beshoui,
I believe your zoom lens is not extending when you power on. In most cases like this, there is likely a foreign body (sand) or similar objects lodged between the lens tubes or the camera has been subjected to a knock (dropped, bumped against a solid surface) that caused the lens tube to miss-align. All you need to do is:
1. as you switch on the camera, give a little knock/ tapping with your fingers around the lens.
2. if that fails, apply a little pressure to the sides of the lens ring while powering on your camera.

Lets hope that will help to dislodge the foreign body or the lens tube miss-alignment.

I'm agains opening any camera, when you don't have the right skills. If you see the grain of sane, don't use the soon switch and go as quick as you can to a repair shop. Ask them to remove. If you only hear the sane, or feel it is even worse. You should visit a Samsung certified crevice centre.
Not having a service manual of your camera, I'm not sure you could lift the switch, without breaking anything, so you can remove the sand yourself. By trying it yourself you could damage the switch so any repair shop should also buy a new switch, and believe me it is virtually impossible if it has no connections to Sasung.

Update the video codecs for the video editors you use on your computer.

Here's a link to download User Manual of Samsung PL200 Digital Camera. Setting up Timer to your camera can be found on page 37-38.
Here's the link http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/UM/201008/20100830102834921/PL200_PL201_English.pdf

Unfortunately it doesn't look like Samsung has the drivers available on their website. You should however be able to upload the photos from your camera using the software on your Mac.

Sounds like some sand or other dirt inside the focus gears. There are very small gears in the focus system and even one piece of sand can block it at some point. The only way is to take it all apart and clean it under a microscope. I have repaired a lot of these. You will have to give it to a camera technician.

It's underneath:-

You have sand or some other small particles trapped between the moving parts of the lens. But I don't recommend you to try to clean it! Because you need to disassemble the camera and if you don't set the lens as exactly as it should be, the images will be blurry forever!

1 year warranty on olympus products, but does not cover physical damage such as impact, water, or sand

I think a grain of sand was blocking the zoom tubes. This will not work if the camera has been dropped & the zoom apparatus is bent. It is entirely at your own risk & may invalidate any guarantee but they may charge anyway if you have got sand in. I cut a finger of 80gm computer paper 1cm X 5cm. Inserted this first  around outer zoom tube & worked it all around. It goes in quite deep so be gentle. I switched on to open zoom & tipped out batteries before it had time to close & repeated procedure. When I put batteries back in it worked OK. I repeated procedure with lens fully extended. I found a thin bit of plastic packing worked better as it did not kink so easily. It is still working today having failed 100% before.
Chris