Greetings, earthlings =) (In response to a thread I already deleted from my inbox) Just had a talk with Pentax Europe's former technical service manager, now 645D service (they will keep that in house) and I learned the following: - SDM failure rates are monitored and do not exceed those of other components, - Pentax is aware of the buzz about the issue but considers it unjustified, - not every perceived failure necessarily is one. SDM motors hold a charge which depletes after prolonged (months) non-use. Once discharged, the lens will no longer focus. The charge takes up to two minutes to rebuild, i.e. the lens needs to be left alone for that time while connected to a powered on camera. At times, that may still not be enough to initially overcome mechanical stiction from the long sitting period. Joseph did the right thing basically, - no information whether DC will replace SDM but the lineup will see more DC lenses eventually, - finally as to parts availability at CRIS/Pentax US: this is not the case in Europe/Germany - the law requires parts to be kept after production ends for 5 years for products costing less than € 500 and for 10 years for products costing more than that. In practice, not all manufacturers keep parts around that long because of very small demands but will offer the customer a current lineup replacement product at the cost of repair instead. I took it to mean Pentax does some of both. Hence, it might be advisable to ship older items to Europe for repair instead. HTH Ecke
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