I am not home. Do not ship to my home at this time. Contact me for alternate shipping address. I am able to do conversions at this time

PentaxForums.com Marketplace Listing

Item for Sale
SDM to Screwdrive Conversions

Asking Price
45.00 USD

Item Location
Mint Hill, NC (United States)

Item Description
As a service to fellow Pentax Forum users and with special permission from Adam I am happy to announce that I am available to convert failed SDM lenses to Screwdrive. I am only charging $45 at this time for lenses that I know how to convert. This is merely to cover my time and effort involved in tracking and sending packages and the time required to perform the conversion. The actual conversion is not hard and I encourage those willing to do this for themselves to do so but for those who want a bit of help - I'm offering this service.

The service includes:
Test Lens prior to conversion to verify that screwdrive is functional.
Backup LENSEEP.LNS file as is.
Modify a copy of this file to have screwdrive configuration.
Load modified file into the lens and test on an SDM capable body.
Return lens postage paid by owner.

Optionally: Email backup and modified files to the owner.


I have successfully converted all of these lenses:
DA* 16-50
DA* 50-135
DA* 200
DA* 300

I am unable to convert the DA* 60-250. There are no known methods for this conversion since the method that works for the other lenses is unreliable on this lens.

An example converted 16-50:



Please NOTE Lenses shipped to me without insurance that are lost are not my responsibility. I strongly suggest using a method with tracking and insurance but that is entirely up to you. My return postage will be based on your explicit instructions and I will not be responsible for lost items. I encourage the use of tracking and insurance.

I STRONGLY recommend that you include a letter inside the package identifying your Pentax Forums ID, the email you wish to be billed at and a contact phone number as well as full address. Ideally the letter should contain your address and mine just in case the label is lost for any reason. Finally if you include your postage instructions (insurance amount, signature required) it will make it easier. You should include not only an email for contact but also the specific email for me to send a paypal invoice to for payment.

Shipping Destinations
United States (Others considered on request)

Shipping Charge
Paid by Lens Owner

Shipping Services
USPS, UPS

Accepted Payment Types
PayPal

Return Policy & Additional Details
If I am unable to convert the lens I will not charge for the service. Lens owner is still responsible for return shipping.

Please send me a private message if interested in the service!


In Canada fozzfoster is offering a similar service: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/24-photographic-equipment-sale/456045-sa...ns-canada.html

[skierd]

Pretty sure my 50-135 failed me today. so bummed as I have a lot of time left in this trip and now I don't have my favorite lens. Sending a PM

Edit: thanks for the fast response, mine woke back up today so far so good.

---

Last edited by skierd; 10-11-2017 at 11:14 AM.

[UncleVanya]

I apologize for an ignorant question....but this weekend my 16-50 rarely autofocused. Is that a likely indicator that SDM failed? If so, you may have a customer. Thanks.

I may be biased, but here's what I know. I have seen 1 other lens that was unreliably focusing that the owner requested conversion for in desperation hoping it would help. It did. That was a 50-135 that was totally unreliable using SDM - I tested it myself. It would fail to focus when on SDM and then when converted to screwdrive it focused fine. I have had other users report similar improvements on weak SDM lenses but I have not personally tested those. I used four different bodies, 2 K-3's and a K100D and my K100D Super in my testing of the 50-135 and found the results consistent with the lens that was sent to me for this purpose. I am happy to convert yours or you can try yourself if you want.

My da*50-135 stopped responding completely today. It usually came back to life after about 2-3 minutes of AF activation. But it did not this time. I may do the conversion myself though. On second thoughts is it worth opening the lens and twisting the motor pivot to see if it comes alive?

I have never done that. I have done the "rack the focusing ring really fast for 5 mins" trick which worked with my 50-135 (purchased with bad SDM supposedly) but I have heard that can be dangerous to do (internal damage perhaps to the belts? ) I have no idea if that method will work for you. If you want to discuss methods and conversions I would suggest moving that out of the sale thread just because many people who can assist will not be looking here for that. I'm happy to contribute my knowledge just totally unclear on that method.

---------- Post added 10-12-17 at 12:17 PM ----------

Pretty sure my 50-135 failed me today. so bummed as I have a lot of time left in this trip and now I don't have my favorite lens. Sending a PM

Edit: thanks for the fast response, mine woke back up today so far so good.

Glad it worked out!

[shardulm]

So I ended up putting my dead SDM 50-135 on K-01 just to see if anything different happens. And it came back to life again almost in an instant. AF works fine now. So I put it back on my k-5iis and it actually works better than before as in the lens is more actively focusing than before "passed out" stunt. I used it for 2 days and it is doing what it is supposed to do. I am throughly clueless about this SDM behavior. I am now going to let it sit for a week to see if it going back into sleep/hard to wake up mode. Sorry I am not suggesting an alternative fix or anything but sharing my experience. May be it does not belong here.

[UncleVanya]

So I ended up putting my dead SDM 50-135 on K-01 just to see if anything different happens. And it came back to life again almost in an instant. AF works fine now. So I put it back on my k-5iis and it actually works better than before as in the lens is more actively focusing than before "passed out" stunt. I used it for 2 days and it is doing what it is supposed to do. I am throughly clueless about this SDM behavior. I am now going to let it sit for a week to see if it going back into sleep/hard to wake up mode. Sorry I am not suggesting an alternative fix or anything but sharing my experience. May be it does not belong here.

No worries. This is fine here - but you may also want to post in one of the many threads on repairing. Many people will suggest that inactivity contributes - I don't personally find this compelling since the lenses sit in boxes for years before being purchased. However the "waking up" has been known to work for long (or short) periods of time. Enjoy it - it may never stop or it may die when you are most annoyed by it but unless you are a pro and/or have no tolerance for manual focus at least it should be a minor inconvenience not the end of the world. The four DA* lenses that have screw drive that can be converted are nice in that they can fall back to an alternative means of focus - but it's great to have working SDM.

[chuck_c]

So I ended up putting my dead SDM 50-135 on K-01 just to see if anything different happens. And it came back to life again almost in an instant. AF works fine now. So I put it back on my k-5iis and it actually works better than before as in the lens is more actively focusing than before "passed out" stunt. I used it for 2 days and it is doing what it is supposed to do. I am throughly clueless about this SDM behavior. I am now going to let it sit for a week to see if it going back into sleep/hard to wake up mode. Sorry I am not suggesting an alternative fix or anything but sharing my experience. May be it does not belong here.

This is interesting to read. I have a 16-50 that I have been intending, for some time actually, to send to UncleVanya for conversion. But happening to have a K-01, just for curiosities sake, I may just have to give this a try. I will probably have the conversion done anyway, but I would like to see if the same results can be realized with the 16-50.
I did have some short term success with an earlier suggested method, in another thread I believe, where you work the focus ring back and forth in an attempt to revitalize the capacitor. But after about a week or so that stopped being effective.
By the way, I did also experience SDM failure with the DA* 300 a few years ago. Fortunately it was still under warranty and was repaired by Precision Camera. It has worked fine since.

[shardulm]

Another shot in the dark... may be storing the lenses with focus parked on either extremes perhaps causes more stuck/sleep events.

---------- Post added 10-14-17 at 09:39 PM ----------

This is interesting to read. I have a 16-50 that I have been intending, for some time actually, to send to UncleVanya for conversion. But happening to have a K-01, just for curiosities sake, I may just have to give this a try. I will probably have the conversion done anyway, but I would like to see if the same results can be realized with the 16-50.
I did have some short term success with an earlier suggested method, in another thread I believe, where you work the focus ring back and forth in an attempt to revitalize the capacitor. But after about a week or so that stopped being effective.
By the way, I did also experience SDM failure with the DA* 300 a few years ago. Fortunately it was still under warranty and was repaired by Precision Camera. It has worked fine since.

My da*16-50 improved after using it on K-01 a few times. Still has a wake up time of about 10 seconds but isn't sluggish once up. Does struggle to focus at 50mm at times though but I may be knit picking.

[robjmitchell]

Well after a break from photography both my 16-50 and 50-135 need converting. Do you know if there are members in Aus that could help? Happy to send it to you otherwise.

[UncleVanya]

Well after a break from photography both my 16-50 and 50-135 need converting. Do you know if there are members in Aus that could help? Happy to send it to you otherwise.

I have had mixed results with international shipping. With Canada I think I have it worked out but shipment from the USA to OZ isn't cheap unless you have an aggregator that you trust. While I am happy to help - I'm not sure that your repair by the time shipping is taken into account would be cheaper than an SDM replacement locally.

As for conversion. If you can locate an older body capable of the work I can give a little assistance as can the threads on the forum. I'd start a thread asking for those in Oz who might have an older body to consider doing the conversion or loaning you the body. The model I use is a K100D (not super) but the K100D Super, the K10D (with older firmware) also work well. There are many other models that use an SD card boot method to enable the option and those are detailed in many threads.

[robjmitchell]

I have had mixed results with international shipping. With Canada I think I have it worked out but shipment from the USA to OZ isn't cheap unless you have an aggregator that you trust. While I am happy to help - I'm not sure that your repair by the time shipping is taken into account would be cheaper than an SDM replacement locally.

As for conversion. If you can locate an older body capable of the work I can give a little assistance as can the threads on the forum. I'd start a thread asking for those in Oz who might have an older body to consider doing the conversion or loaning you the body. The model I use is a K100D (not super) but the K100D Super, the K10D (with older firmware) also work well. There are many other models that use an SD card boot method to enable the option and those are detailed in many threads.

Thanks For the advise UncleVanya!
I have a K7 that can be used, but only a Mac to do it on. I will post a thread to see if any Melb/Aus folks can Help.
Cheers
Rob

[UncleVanya]

Thanks For the advise UncleVanya!
I have a K7 that can be used, but only a Mac to do it on. I will post a thread to see if any Melb/Aus folks can Help.
Cheers
Rob

I'll send you some PM's also.

[kjphilippona]

Weekend Bump

[UncleVanya]

Black Friday is over but I'm still open for business for new conversions! PM me for details if you want to send me a lens.

[Imp]

Bump!

[chuck_c]

Bump, for a service that I will be taking advantage of in the not too distant future, for a failed DA 16-50 failed SDM.

[UncleVanya]

Bump, for a service that I will be taking advantage of in the not too distant future, for a failed DA 16-50 failed SDM.

Thanks! Happy to do that when you are ready.