Hi there, I just bought a P1000 off of Ebay that I intend to fix and would love some advice. Currently the zoom doesn't seem to work and the pins in the SD card slot is damaged (bent/damaged pins, SD card won't click in/out of the SD card slot, camera unable to read SD card)

Currently the zoom doesn't respond at all - not for the TW zoom button on the side or for the TW zoom button that is attached to the shutter button. When I turn the camera on, the barrel (not sure what the right term is) of the camera will extend out about 3/4 of an inch and when I turn the camera off, the barrel will retract. When I physically move the camera from one side to an other, I can feel/hear the barrel move very slightly. I'm going to guess that that play isn't normal. I am also going to guess that it is unlikely that the defunct SD card slot could be causing the camera to not respond to the zoom controls. 

I imagine it wouldn't be too difficult to replace the SD card mechanism but I don't know that the same would be true for the zoom mechanism. Should I try to tackle it or maybe just send the camera in to be repaired by an expert? 

Cheers,

Levi

Hello from Northern Alberta, Canada! I recently bought my first Nikon camera - a fixer upper P1000, from Ebay no less - and I'm looking forward to being a part of the Nikon forum community!