Originally posted by snake The problem is not a single person has been able to physically confirm the existence of the supposed new parts in the current rumor.
You are right. It is a shame that this didn't happen yet.
Perhaps it is not possible to demonstrate the existence of new parts, because there aren't any. Could well be the case.
Originally posted by snake We even have supposed direct contacts and no one is talking.
Well, it is a delicate issue for Pentax.
I don't see them ever admitting that there has been a systematic problem with some SDM lenses. If they did that officially, they could get into all sorts of trouble.
For the record, I cannot exclude the possibility of their version of the story -- that SDM failures frequencies are not out of the ordinary and well within what you'd expect -- is true. It surely does not look like the SDM of a 16-50/2.8 or 50-135/2.8 is anywhere near as reliable as the HSM implementation of many Sigma lenses. The latter use large ring motors which are more robust than the micro-motors in the SDM lenses, so I wouldn't be surprised if the real numbers supported the overall impression that certain SDM lenses do have a reliability problem, but at the end of the day, I don't have the failure numbers and only the latter reflect the whole truth.