Originally posted by bobD NEVER ever heard of this !! How would a "sugary liquid" get there ???!!!
You would be amazed... When I worked customer service for a camera repair company, I saw an amazing number of bizarre things people got all in their cameras...
Dirt, of course... "My camera has never been outdoors; it is kept in a hermetically sealed environment; there's no way it got dirt and sand in it. The only time it's been out is when my son took it on a hiking trip to the Colorado mountains two weeks ago... ooooh..." (Pentax IQZoom)
Insects... We had a flash that wouldn't work because it was literally full of cockroaches... you can't un-see that... the tech screamed like a small child as tiny roaches scurried all over his desk (Some kind of flash I don't recall...)
Salt water... will basically cement any two pieces of anything metallic to each other as they corrode. It only takes a little spray and some time, especially if there's sand to make it worse... and it's basically invisible... (Several cameras of various sorts, usually with visible corrosion on screws)
Soda or other sweetened liquids (coffee, tea, whatever). Was your camera around your neck when you were drinking something and got bumped? Did you set the camera down in a little puddle of liquid? Did it go to a raucous concert with you? The liquids will drain into any crevices or whatever and dry, leaving nothing but corrosive, decaying syrup. (A police officer from North Carolina gave me a dressing-down "There can't be Coke in my camera, I only drink Pepsi")
Spaghetti sauce... really... guy dropped it in a big vat of tomato sauce while it was cooking... was taking photos for his restaurant... voids your warranty in case anyone was wondering... (Canon AE1 Program)
-Eric