Last week I went through Hurricane Katrina when she decided to make a last minute turn to the south and come through Coral Gables, Florida. Well as a result I was and still am without power. To add insult to injury Saturday night a candle fell over onto the dining room table and started a nice bonfire, I guess it was not hot enough in the house. My family and I were awoken to the sound of smoke and heat alarms piercing the night air. I quickly grabbed the fire extinguisher and took care of the fire before it was able to spread. Thankfully nobody was hurt and the fire resulted in just minor destruction. What I did not see until the fire was out was that my D100, 12-24 and SB-800 were sitting on the other end of the table. Now that the fire was out the camera was covered in that ash material that the fire extinguisher expels. I tried to clean the camera and lens as best I could but this ash stuff gets everywhere. I even found it half way down into the CF slot even though a card was inserted! Suffice to say that although the camera is working and I have given it the best cleaning that I could I still feel the roughness of the powder when I zoom or focus the lens or when I use the dials and buttons on the camera.
So does anybody know where I can send the camera and lens to get a more thorough cleaning and diagnostic. I hesitate to send it to Nikon because of their slow turn around time. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Regards,
James