[tarsus]

This thread is amazing. People actually having to figure out how to fix a product because the company that made it can't do it right. Amazing.

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Last edited by tarsus; 02-03-2011 at 03:26 AM.

[sewebster]

This thread is amazing. People actually having to figure out how to fix a product because the company that made can't do it right. Amazing.

I think people have probably been repairing their own lenses for a pretty long time... same with lots of products right?

[Tom S.]

This thread is amazing. People actually having to figure out how to fix a product because the company that made it can't do it right. Amazing.

People have been doing that with cars since they were invented. In fact, there are a whole bunch of items that would fall into this catagory.

[Pentaxor]

Yeah, that includes Betamax's ejection and loading problems among others. I dunno who were responsible for such engineering work, but I could had done better job as a 14 year old fixing it up. there are a lot of problems with the Betamax then. and that I think killed the format, not because of the popularity of the VHS but the notoriety of Betamax's poor reliability.

[Wheatfield]

Yeah, that includes Betamax's ejection and loading problems among others. I dunno who were responsible for such engineering work, but I could had done better job as a 14 year old fixing it up. there are a lot of problems with the Betamax then. and that I think killed the format, not because of the popularity of the VHS but the notoriety of Betamax's poor reliability.

I'm pretty sure that Betamax is alive and well in high end video, VHS just won the hearts and minds of us schlob consumers.

[germar]

Yeah, that includes Betamax's ejection and loading problems among others. I dunno who were responsible for such engineering work, but I could had done better job as a 14 year old fixing it up. there are a lot of problems with the Betamax then. and that I think killed the format, not because of the popularity of the VHS but the notoriety of Betamax's poor reliability.

You're wrong, Pentaxor.

Japan Victor Company (JVC) originally licensed 11 companies to build VHS machines across the globe while Sony only licensed 1 (Sanyo) to build Betamax machines. The flood of VHS machines literally overwhelmed the Betamax supply and became the dominant format.

The educated truth of the matter is that the Betamax format both electonically and in the matter of tape handling was FAR better than VHS. It was so good, as a matter of fact, that Betamax became the preferred professional format for pretty much all the television news organizations around the world... it's only being phased out now with the advent of solid state recording systems.

I know this because I've been a news broadcast professional since the early 1980s ... I saw it actually happen.

Check your facts before you rewrite technical history to support your point.

Regards

[Pentaxor]

You're wrong, Pentaxor.

Japan Victor Company (JVC) originally licensed 11 companies to build VHS machines across the globe while Sony only licensed 1 (Sanyo) to build Betamax machines. The flood of VHS machines literally overwhelmed the Betamax supply and became the dominant format.

The educated truth of the matter is that the Betamax format both electonically and in the matter of tape handling was FAR better than VHS. It was so good, as a matter of fact, that Betamax became the preferred professional format for pretty much all the television news organizations around the world... it's only being phased out now with the advent of solid state recording systems.

I know this because I've been a news broadcast professional since the early 1980s ... I saw it actually happen.

Check your facts before you rewrite technical history to support your point.

Regards

I'm not sure what you are so sensitive about and I dunno which facts that you were referring to that I had said. the point that I was raising are some of the problems that the Betamax was suffering from and this includes ejection mechanism which were prevalent on some certain models of it. anyway, better check my previous post if I really tried to rewrite history that you said I was doing.

[Tom S.]

Yeah, that includes Betamax's ejection and loading problems among others. I dunno who were responsible for such engineering work, but I could had done better job as a 14 year old fixing it up. there are a lot of problems with the Betamax then. and that I think killed the format, not because of the popularity of the VHS but the notoriety of Betamax's poor reliability.

Maybe reliability didn't have anything to do with it like Germar says, but I remember almost buying a Betamax. The salesman asked if I wanted the extended warranty, and on a lark I asked how much. The extended warranty was more than the original cost of the Betamax! I walked out with a VHS.

[K(s)evin]

You're wrong, Pentaxor.

Japan Victor Company (JVC) originally licensed 11 companies to build VHS machines across the globe while Sony only licensed 1 (Sanyo) to build Betamax machines. The flood of VHS machines literally overwhelmed the Betamax supply and became the dominant format.

The educated truth of the matter is that the Betamax format both electonically and in the matter of tape handling was FAR better than VHS. It was so good, as a matter of fact, that Betamax became the preferred professional format for pretty much all the television news organizations around the world... it's only being phased out now with the advent of solid state recording systems.

I know this because I've been a news broadcast professional since the early 1980s ... I saw it actually happen.

Check your facts before you rewrite technical history to support your point.

Regards

The professional Beta format was known as Betacam. I used it for most of my years as a TV photojournalist.

[Pentaxor]

Maybe reliability didn't have anything to do with it like Germar says, but I remember almost buying a Betamax. The salesman asked if I wanted the extended warranty, and on a lark I asked how much. The extended warranty was more than the original cost of the Betamax! I walked out with a VHS.

I was just saying that reliability could had been one factor as well, that was my point and I pretty much understood what germar was saying which was obviously not my point. as far as warranty is concerned, we never thought of having an extended warranty and had to settle on bringing the thing to the repair shop. and due to our frequency of going there, I pretty much got used to the different problems and ways on repairing or troubleshooting the thing. til we just started fixing it up ourselves since it's becoming more costly and a waste of time. I even find myself fixing others' betamax players as well as long as I'm familiar with it.

[kthung]

AWESOME guide, repped! Does anyone know if there are any differences with 50-135?

[Ex Finn.]

Main thing, in my opinion, that killed beta, was the lack of run time and the cost of the machine.
These things were not cheap and they could not cram 6 hours of soap operas in to a single cassette. Picture quality was damn good thou.
( I did "cut my teeth" on servicing Sony beta machines, as a young electronics technician).
Normally, by the time they failed, they had been driven/played to the ground and hardly worth repairing.

[Ex Finn.]

Now, back to regular programming .

[narichey81]

Looking at that repair guide confirmed in my mind that incorporating a focusing motor into a mirrorless to k-mount adapter would be very possible. That focus motor system takes up almost no space at all and could easily fit in the 'empty' space that the difference between k mount and a reduced flange distance mirrorless design would provide.

[Donkeypunch]

Awesomesauce!!!! It friggin works!!! My 16-50 failed for the third time this morning...it started about a week ago, focusing really slow, or not finding focus lock. I found this thread about a week ago coincidentally, and put it in the back of my head in-case my fears were realized again....The first time the motor was replaced by Pentax, out of warranty, the second time it failed within 90 days of repair, so it was under warranty, then this morning it went while out shooting landscapes. Well I decided that had nothing really to lose this morning, since if I screwed it up, it was going to go in to Pentax anyway, so I would button it back up, and send it in. I am happy to report, after about 20 minutes of work (I am a Navy Sonar Technician, so I have a lot of electronic repair experience), via the DIY procedure, my 16-50 focuses again. Saves me $400, since it is not under warranty for the last repair anymore. Sweet.

The only things I would add to this DIY would be a bit better picture of the weatherseal position on the lens once it is replaced, or before it is taken off...my haste caused me to not really pay attention, and the first time I put it back on, I had it upside down. Also, getting the 6 gold contacts to line up into the holes during the re-install can be tedious. Also, I would recommend the user of this procedure looks at the DOF scale on the lens while they are turning the SDM motor back and forth, as to not over-turn the motor/gearing. Un-attaching/re-attaching the spring for the apeture can be troublesome also. But if you get it on either with the spring hook up or down on the apeture hook, it will work either way, so take it where you can get it.

Thank You Very Much for finding this information and posting your own DIY. This thread should definately get a STICKY status. I feel many will use this thread to their advantage, since Pentax still won't acknowledge that their SDM system is FUBAR'ed

-Andy