HD1 black screen info needed

[Mark Baculy]

I recently purchased 2 hd1 cameras with the black screen problem. I dissasembled one and discovered the cause of the black screen is the iris staying shut. The iris is just 2 pieces of very thin black plastic, a top and bottom piece which have a v cut in them. A tiny motor turns a lever which moves one half up and one down, thereby increasing and decreasing the aperture size. I've taken the lens out so many times now that I can remove it in under 3 minutes, it's pretty simple. I can manually open the iris with the lens removed, reassemble and the camera works. Sort of anyway. The iris either stays full open where I positioned it and the camera is usable however the iris is not operating, either in auto or manual mode. I noticed when I took a still shot once the iris just completely closed. Once the iris closes it will not move and I have a black screen again. I suspect some of the complaints I've read of poor low light quality may be due to the iris stuck at a small aperture, and the operator doesn't know it. (Not all complaints because some say it's not too bad and some say it's unusable in indoor light.) It was not to bad indoors under indoor lighting when the iris is full open, but when it's even half closed it gets pretty poor. Anyway, does any know it this is a software glitch, faulty motor, firmware problem? The first time I took it apart I removed everything from the lens including the ND filter which works correctly, the focus motor and the zoom motor along with the iris assembly. I resoldered the 3 pins to the iris motor on the ribbon cable and when I reassembled the camera worked great until I took a still photo.

If your still awake after reading this and have any helpful insight please reply, I'd love to figure this out. If you have a camera with the problem and its out of warranty, don't be afraid to take it apart, they are put together pretty simply, I have taken photos of the lens assembly parts if anyone is interested.

[Robert Batta]

hi,
please send photos .. is very interesting !

[Mark Baculy]

I have a theory about the problem now after trying something with the hd1.
I set the camera to MF and shutter priority. The iris is currenty stuck at about f5. Looking in the lens I can see the diamond shape aperture opening. As I shine a bright light into the lens, the aperture opening does not change however the readout on the lcd moves up and down with the light as I pass it over the lens. Now I put the camera to my ear, listen carefully and pass the light back over the lens and I can hear a motor running in steps. Since the focus is set to manual the noise I hear is not the focusing motor. (It sounds totally different anyway) So here is my thought, the iris mechanism is to blame. I think the motor is disengaged from the lever it is attached to for whatever reason, either defective manufacturing, incorrect tolerances, maybe the part gets tweeked when it gets screwed down. The part is very small, only about 1/16" thick. I am going to dissect the little thing and find out if I'm right. This would explain why some cameras work after giving them a good smack. It would also explain why cameras fail after warranty repairs. You can replace the lens assembly all day long, but if they all have flakey iris mechanisms what good is it? I'll take pictures, but could some tell me how to post them on here?

[Mark Baculy]

Well, I just finished disassembly and reassembly of the hd1 and guess what?

It's fixed! No parts needed, and I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's a permanent fix! Time will tell but I'm pretty sure. I have one more black screen camera and I suspect the same problem. If anyone has an HD1 with the black screen I'll give ya 50 bucks! I noticed when the iris was stuck the still photos had heavy bars going horizontal. Now the photos are fine, so if you have unusable still photos because of these bars, chances are your iris is stuck in one position.

[Robert Batta]

Originally Posted by Mark Baculy

I'll take pictures, but could some tell me how to post them on here?

put this site :
http://www.imagehosting.com/index.php
and copy the link here

[Mark Baculy]

Here's the link to some photos, they are not the best but I'll take some good ones on the next camera repair. Maybe I'll post a step by step if I have the ambition. By the way, the camera it still working fine, I can look in the lens and watch the iris open and close as it should. I have not nailed the problem down to one thing but either way the fix is the same. I seems that during assembly grease from the threaded rods which move the zoom and focus got on to the iris blades just a small amount inbetween them and the little motor just doesn't have the horsepower to move them. Removing them and cleaning the grease off with alcohol did the trick.







http://www.imagehosting.com/index.ph...n=795f54ad3bdf

[Robert Batta]

the link maybe not work...

this one other links the site
www.imagehosting.com/out.php/i217147_01hd1m2.JPG

i hope help this...

[Wayne Morellini]

Mark

Good on you, good effort. On the iris, the most likely cause was going to be something like that. Is there meant to be some other sort of lubricant there.

If there wasn't for the HD2, I would buy an HD1 to do this.

Have you tried removing the lens and making an 35mm adaptor using an descent condenser lens, I was interested in doing this. Then you can do everything manual.

[Mark Baculy]

No, the blades must be totally dry. The first time I opened the camera up, I noticed the grease spot on the blade but at the time did not know what it was. I cleaned what was visible at that time but without taking the blades out there was grease still on the back side of the other blade. All the blade had to do is close down over the grease and it spread it right back on the other blade. I now know that the arm on the motor is spring loaded. When the camera is off the blades automatically go to full closed. If you open the camera up and physically move the arm it should spring right back when you let go. My camera was staying in whatever position I moved it to. When I reassembled the iris and it was springing right back, that's when I knew I had fixed it. I have not made an adapter but sounds like an interesting project. The sensor is so small though that your lens multiplier will be quite large I think. Maybe when I get my hands on some more cameras I will try that.
I would be pretty easy to do considering the front lens is held on with 4 screws and pops right off. Now I'm going to search for some cheap hd1's.
I'm sure tons of them have been returned.

[Mark Baculy]

just finished with the second black screen camera. The same problem, grease on the blades. I cleaned it off and it works perfectly. I have not had many replies so I assume there is not much interest in this subject. I hope I helped someone save a camera, it's been fun, see ya all later!

[Wayne Morellini]

Most people lost interest and disappeared when certain other cameras hit the market. But in reality, it looks like the Pana, new Canon and Sony are the best buys, except if you want pocket (then you compare to the HV10). If the HD2 had high bitrate and 25/50/60fps recording it would be interesting compared to these.

Let me know if you find out where to get them, it might be interesting to check this out. On ebay, you see little I can get here, and they even go for pricey prices.

[Daniel Nguyen]

Originally Posted by Mark Baculy

just finished with the second black screen camera. The same problem, grease on the blades. I cleaned it off and it works perfectly. I have not had many replies so I assume there is not much interest in this subject. I hope I helped someone save a camera, it's been fun, see ya all later!

Hi Mark,
Your contribution is much appreciated. Since I don't have much exp, do you mind giving some guidance? I opened mine but not usre the steps to remove the lens assembly/iris? Circuit brds need to be removed first? Again, much thanks.

[Mark Baculy]

with the cover off, and when you take the cover off make sure you remove the SD card first or you'll have to fix the SD slot mechanism too, I did!
Remove the chrome screw holding the speaker down and pull the speaker out of the way, don't unplug it because you don't need to and the wires are very small. Now pull carefully up on the board slow from the bottom area where the battery goes. The board is connected to the board below via a snap type connector, it will just pop off. Remove the chome bar in front of the camera by pulling straight up in the same direction as the cover came off. The bar is the one just above the lens cap strap hole. Don't touch the terminals on top off the long capacitor on the right, it's charged and will give you a little jolt which will suprise the #$@& out of you. When you lift the board up, it may give you a little resistance in the upper right because the infrared sensor is catching onto the case. Don't force it just wiggle it around until it comes out.
Once thats out, if you look way down below the area where the speaker was is another chrome screw. Remove that and the lens cover will come off.
There are 2 ribbon cables coming from the lens. One has the same snap on connector as the top board, just get under it and slow pry up to pop it off.
The other ribbon is where the speaker was. You will notice a small black plastic strip where the ribbon attaches. With a pair of tweezers or small flat blade screwdriver, from the end where the cable attaches get under the black plastic piece and pull it up, its hinged and will come up 90 degrees and the cable is now free. Now the lens assembly is free to be removed. Take the lens out and put the other parts aside. Get a piece of clean white paper and get ready for the fun. By the way, this is only for the HD1's that have the black screen problem where the camera functions normal except you can't see live video, or record photos or video but will record audio. Let me know when you get the lens out and I'll help you with the rest.

[Mark Baculy]

the top board has wires soldered to it so you can't remove the board completely unless you desolder which is not needed. Just position the board out of the way.

[Lynne Whelden]

Mark, good work on discovering the source of the screen of black death! My guess is that most folks who encountered similar problems lost faith in the camera a long time ago and don't even check in here anymore. Too bad the word can't get out that you're able to fix it. But in any case, way to go! Looks like you'll be able to start a little business on the side selling refurbished HD1s.