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Thread: It Died..so I dissected it.

  1. #1
    Administrator brewmaster15's Avatar
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    Default It Died..so I dissected it.

    Catchy Title isn't it ? Sorry to have mislead you, but couldn't resist. I didn't dissect a dead fish here for this thread. I actually dissected a Dead Digital Camera...a Pentax K2000 that finally gave up the ghost and was not worth repairing. So rather than have an expensive paper weight or selling it as is for repair on ebay, I opted to learn a little bit more about how this marvelous thing called the Digital camera works. Never know when I might need to actually fix one of these or modify one. Now I have taken apart many film cameras over the years and put them back together fine. I knew this would be difficult so even though I didn't plan on re-assembling it, I acted as if I did, for the most part. Laid out the parts and screws as I took them out, made notes, and snapped phone pics along the way.

    Have to tell you,I knew they were complicated pieces of technology, but WOW..

    So rolling up the sleeves and get to work now...
















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    Last edited by brewmaster15; 01-22-2015 at 08:29 AM.
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  2. #2
    Administrator brewmaster15's Avatar
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    Default Re: It Died..so I dissected it.

    Getting to the good stuff now...

















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  3. #3
    Administrator and MVP Dec.2015 Second Hand Pat's Avatar
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    Default Re: It Died..so I dissected it.

    I did think you were referring to an animal...figured chicken. I have actually done taxidermy as a teenager. So where is the rest.
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    Registered Member rickztahone's Avatar
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    Default Re: It Died..so I dissected it.

    Very cool Al. A friend of mine once did something similar but he laid out the parts as an exploded view of the whole thing. It laid out about 4ft each way and it looked sweet. I've never taken one completely apart, but I had to fix skipping wheel once and replace a thumstick in the rear and an LCD. Easy enough if you take your time and be methodical with what you do. TFS

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    Administrator brewmaster15's Avatar
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    Default Re: It Died..so I dissected it.











































    Last edited by brewmaster15; 01-21-2015 at 09:19 PM.
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  6. #6
    Administrator brewmaster15's Avatar
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    Default Re: It Died..so I dissected it.

    One thing about electronics is they don't need to be plugged in to give you one heck of a shock. Even without batteries, cameras like this have one huge capacitor that stores electricity. I have read on the DIY sites that if you depress the camera shutter button several times it will discharge the capacitor. Not wanting to get knocked on my butt or worse, I discharged it with an insulated screw driver by touching both terminals in case the DIY sites were wrong. Guess the capacitor didn't read the DIY sites, because that thing made a snap crackle and pop like you wouldn't believe. I've no idea how much juice it stored, but its the size of a AA battery!









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  7. #7
    Administrator brewmaster15's Avatar
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    Default Re: It Died..so I dissected it.






    I ran into my first technical glitch at this time. I wanted to get to the image capture sensor.,.. but Pentax has it sandwiched between metal plates, that have tiny hex heads, and my particular version was cemented/glued in place as well. Whats a guy to do when he really doesn't have the right tool or alot of time, and isnt planning on reassembling? Have Dril will travel!



    Of course if I was trying to put this back together, I'd have to be real careful here and see if I could free it up another way..I have a feeling its designed to not come apart, but be replaced as an assembly. Once the screws are drilled out the plates come apart with a little force. They are held together by a perimeter of magnets...





    Here are the magnets...



    and here is the back of the sensor...




    and this was the GEM I was seeking... What you are looking at is the "film" of the camera. In this case its a 10.2 megapixel CCD. The light you are seeing is reflected from my phones flash. Not sure what exactly causes it but its beautiful.










    To protect the sensor from infrared (IR) light theres a special filter on top of the CCD that allows normal light in and blocks IR light which the digital cameras are sensitive too. Its blue in color.






    and here is the CCD without the filter...again, really pretty colors there..







    Last edited by brewmaster15; 01-22-2015 at 08:34 AM.
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  8. #8
    Administrator brewmaster15's Avatar
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    Default Re: It Died..so I dissected it.

    And heres what the patient looks like exploded out...

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  9. #9
    Registered Member Discus-n00b's Avatar
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    Default Re: It Died..so I dissected it.

    Now, how fast does it go back together? Readyyyyyyyyyyy.....GO!!!

    Pretty interesting to see. So what you are saying is if my camera dies I at least have a very fancy taser?
    -Matt


  10. #10
    Administrator brewmaster15's Avatar
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    Default Re: It Died..so I dissected it.

    So what did I learn after spending 3 hours taking apart a dead camera... well actually a lot!.

    The Pentax camera has a dust removal system that relies on shaking the sensor. From what I can tell the sensor actually "floats" in between those magnet bound plates... I could move it around a bit and can see how that mightbe how the dust removal works Pretty ingenious at the time it was developed.

    The IR filter is something that alot of DIY hackers remove..This allows you to do Infrared photography, which was the main reason I did all this. I wanted to see how hard it was to get to that IR filter. On Some cameras its easier than others, but not this model! I found a company that will make this modification on this camera for $350. http://www.kolarivision.com/pentaxco...onservice.html


    Of course they definetly know a heck more than I do and may know better ways than I could find, but tell you what. $350 is not unreasonable! OUT of my Budget, but if I had it..why not. I have a huge interest in IR photography and this little exercise was time well spent!

    If I was to do this as a DIY on my other cameras I also need to de-solder a few wires from the circuit boards and re-solder when I re-assemble. Not too difficult.. In this break down I cheated and cut the problem wire.

    The capacitor in the DSLR is massive, relative to the camera size.! I did not expect something that big in such a small camera... but I should have. Also noted..discharge , do not assume its discharged.

    The IR filter is easy to remove and exchange any filter I want with.

    Lastly theres one heck of alot wires,screws and circuit boards in the camera. Do yourself a favor, don't drop one!


    Don't know if this was interesting or not for anyone, but gives you a better understanding of the "magic" that goes on when you try and take a picture with a Digital SLR camera.

    al

    ps.. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME AND IF YOU DO.... DON"T ASK ME FOR ADVICE ON IT.. I like to try and figure out how things work. It doesn't make me an expert, just inquisitive.
    Last edited by brewmaster15; 01-21-2015 at 10:23 PM.
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  11. #11
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    Default Re: It Died..so I dissected it.

    Quote Originally Posted by Discus-n00b View Post
    Now, how fast does it go back together? Readyyyyyyyyyyy.....GO!!!

    Pretty interesting to see. So what you are saying is if my camera dies I at least have a very fancy taser?
    Yep.. Biggest I have seen yet... but I've dug bigger ones out of microwave ovens if you really want a taser.lol
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    Default Re: It Died..so I dissected it.

    Haha I bet!

    IR photography has peaked my interest before. Not enough for me to pursue it yet, but If I could find a cheap extra Canon body I've thought about sending it in to one of those conversion places before and having it done. There seems to be quite a lot of different types of IR filters you can use for this type of photography. http://www.lifepixel.com/
    -Matt


  13. #13
    Administrator brewmaster15's Avatar
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    Default Re: It Died..so I dissected it.

    Quote Originally Posted by Discus-n00b View Post
    Haha I bet!

    IR photography has peaked my interest before. Not enough for me to pursue it yet, but If I could find a cheap extra Canon body I've thought about sending it in to one of those conversion places before and having it done. There seems to be quite a lot of different types of IR filters you can use for this type of photography. http://www.lifepixel.com/
    Great minds think alike.
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  14. #14
    Administrator brewmaster15's Avatar
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    Default Re: It Died..so I dissected it.

    Forgot to mention that this camera was released to the market 2008/2009 so its 5-6 years old.Technology wise with DSLRs thats pretty old..much has changed since then I am sure...But I bet much has not.

    If anyone is interested in the specs of the deceased camera here..http://m.dpreview.com/reviews/pentaxk2000
    al
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  15. #15
    Administrator and MVP Dec.2015 Second Hand Pat's Avatar
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    Default Re: It Died..so I dissected it.

    Al, this is a pretty cool thread. Even I learned a bit and I don't really take things apart to learn about it (which is more of a guy thing IMO). Thanks to Tom and working on test equipment for a number of years I do understand some basic electronics.
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