[Adam]

Earlier this week, a member (anvh) wanted to conduct a survey to see whether or not the number of SDM failures has fallen with time (suggesting an improvement in QC or more reliable parts).

I've therefore set up a system which will easily allow you to report which of your lenses have failed, and which haven't. I'll post a live stats page soon as well

SDM Reliability Survey - PentaxForums.com

Hope we get a lot of participants!

Adam
PentaxForums.com Webmaster (Site Usage Guide | Site Help | My Photography)



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[rvannatta]

I couldn't find an orderly way to exit the survey when completed.

[Adam]

What do you mean? It's part of our homepage, there are links to the rest of the site from there.

[rvannatta]

What do you mean? It's part of our homepage, there are links to the rest of the site from there.

I was expecting a "done" or 'Save" button after I entered all I was going to enter. It has a 'next lens' button. As nearly as I can tell
unless I am blind when you enter you lens information it isn't 'saved' until you push the 'next lens' button, so I think to get out of the jail
you have enter your information and go round and round entering the info for each lens and after entering push the 'next lens' button
and when you have no more lenses, then navigate away. I would think that rather than having to jump over the side when done
if there were a 'done' button beside the "next lens" button that took you to a 'thankyou' screen or something, it would be more user
friendly. I at least am nervous about jumping over the side in a survey as opposed to exiting in some defined path.

[hcc]

Adam,
Great idea. If everyone enter properly all the relevant data, the PF community will have some solid data on the reliablility of SDM lenses, and the likelyhoodd that an issue was (or not) fixed overtime.
Thanks.

[Adam]

I was expecting a "done" or 'Save" button after I entered all I was going to enter. It has a 'next lens' button. As nearly as I can tell
unless I am blind when you enter you lens information it isn't 'saved' until you push the 'next lens' button, so I think to get out of the jail
you have enter your information and go round and round entering the info for each lens and after entering push the 'next lens' button
and when you have no more lenses, then navigate away. I would think that rather than having to jump over the side when done
if there were a 'done' button beside the "next lens" button that took you to a 'thankyou' screen or something, it would be more user
friendly. I at least am nervous about jumping over the side in a survey as opposed to exiting in some defined path.

Ah, I see. The "changes saved" message wasn't reassuring enough? It also shows you what you've added so far at the bottom of the page.

[Adam]

If you guys could help me spread the word on other sites, that would be ready. Here is a link to the news post about the survey:
SDM Autofocus Failure Survey - Pentax Camera News & Rumors - PentaxForums.com

Adam
PentaxForums.com Webmaster (Site Usage Guide | Site Help | My Photography)



PentaxForums.com server and development costs are user-supported. You can help cover these costs by donating or purchasing one of our Pentax eBooks. Or, buy your photo gear from our affiliates, Adorama, B&H Photo, KEH, or Topaz Labs, and get FREE Marketplace access - click here to see how! Trusted Pentax retailers:

[maxfield_photo]

Ah, I see. The "changes saved" message wasn't reassuring enough? It also shows you what you've added so far at the bottom of the page.

Two thing I notice:
1) I reported that my 50-135, bought in June 2010 was working, but when I review the results for that lens, I see nothing but failures reported. That makes me think that it didn't really save my info.

2 The formatting of the results looks a little odd. For each year it shows either a red or a blue line, all set to 1.00. It looks like what happens when I try to create a chart from a spread sheet and accidentally use the first column as data. Seems like maybe you were going for a stacked bar graph but referenced the wrong cell.

[edit: now I see a picture of the lens I included, and now all the bars for that particular lens are blue. Maybe there just weren't enough data points]

[Adam]

Maybe there just weren't enough data points

Yup, I think that was the case. Now that we have some 100 data points, things are starting to look better (though ideally we could use 1000-2000).

You can't really look at the ratio of blue to red, as there will quite likely be a response bias (users with SDM failures will be more likely to take the survey than those w/o). Thus, you have to look at the bars individually. Hopefully, the results will be positive!

[Verglace]

Thanks adam, this is very timely for people like me who are considering some of the lenses there. I gotta say the 2011 results look promising!

[steve1307]

So for the primes look pretty "safe" from the beginning but sorry i'm the one to blot the record.

My DA300 was DOA out of the box & while the motor hadn't died it was not focusing properly and jamming. (I think it might have been someone's warranty return).
It might have been fixable with the "DIY SDM repair" threads method but i returned it.

Undeterred..... copy I ordered from the same store a few weeks later is perfect, and defintely a worthwhile purchase.

[johnmflores]

Thanks Adam. I hope we get enough people to make the finding meaningful.

One suggestion, add a link to the results on this page - SDM Autofocus Failure Survey - Pentax Camera News & Rumors - PentaxForums.com

Again, thanks!

[builttospill]

Is there a preferred method to report multiple failures of the same lens? I had one CRIS replaced the entire SDM assembly and it failed again. Or is this survey just looking specifically for QC during a timeline?

[mano]

Hey who managed to grab a DA 16-50 as early as 1901? It's no wonder the lens failed after all those years!

[Thingo]

My October 2008 200/2.8 is working very well, and added to the results.

However there is no option to pick the 645 'kit lens', the 55/2.8. I've had three copies of this lens: all failed.