Originally posted by stevebrot I think the OP stated that the lens continues to work fine on their K20D (SDM body), so it would appear that the SDM is not dead. Conversion to screw mount might not hurt, but may not help either. I believe the process is irreversible, no? Other lenses work fine on the K-3, but it is not clear whether those lenses are SDM or screw mount. Since the K-3 is still under warranty, I believe that Ricoh/Pentax support might be the best option at this point.
Steve
The screw mount conversion is done in lens firmware, so it is reversible, assuming of course that a glitch in uploading doesn't brick anything (I haven't heard of this happening, btw). After a couple of years of frustration with my DA*16-50, I converted mine and, while the extra focussing noise is noticeable to me, it hasn't been a problem and it's certainly faster than SDM was on my K20D, K-5 and K-3, but that just might have been the drive slowly clagging up.