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.

hi,
please send photos .. is very interesting !

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?

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.

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

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.php?&showlinks=1&viewmode=1&upload_session=795f54ad3bdf

the link maybe not work...

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

i hope help this...

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Thanks for the compliment. To bad the cameras aren't worth a whole lot anymore. It's a fun little camera but after watching some of the clips from the new Canon's, Sony's etc.. I going to buy something a little more serious. Some of that stuff is amazing. I'll use the Sanyo at work (I own a used car lot and collision repair shop and love taking things apart). Now I'm thinking that the iris motor may have type of lube in it that leaks out and drips down.
If that's the case the problem could return (but we can fix it now) unless what leaked out was all that was going to. Or perhaps a hard bump forced it out or maybe high heat environment makes it leak. That's just a guess, I don't even know if the motor has lube in it. Maybe all the problem cameras were assembled by the same person right after lunch and they had greasy fingers! I will be looking for some cheap hd1's but I think now that the fix is known I may have some competition on the auction sites. Oh well, competition is good and might keep the price from falling to fast.

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.

Actually, we might be able to, just post an link to the older black screen threads and tell them to tell other people, maybe they will still be registered to the threads.

Is this also a problem with the HD1a cameras, or just the HD1?

By the looks of it, just the HD1s

Hi,
I'm new to this forum but....any takers for my black screen problem HD1ex i sent it off for repair to lehrmans, they were going to charge £195, i'm not technically minded enough to fix it so if anyone wants to buy it please let me know,

cheers,

bruce

Mark,

Thank you for the great instructions on taking apart the Xacti HD1! I followed them step-by-step and I got the lens assembly free. In your posting of February 16th, 2007 you wrote: “Let me know when you get the lens out and I'll help you with the rest.” Can you describe the next steps?

Thank you!

Abe

Hi Mark, thank-you for the awesome instructions!
My 13-month old HD1 just black-screened and your help has provided much hope.

Unfortunately, I'm not a read the whole instructions before starting kind of guy, and now I have the lens assembly removed from the camera and am not sure where to go from here to clean the oil. Is there any chance you could extend your instructions on how to do this?

Cheers,
William

Hi Abe, William

I'm new here but it looks you are left out cold?, I have played with the Sanyo C1 for a while and used a spare parts camera to figure out the Black Screen problem with the HD1.
First and this is very important if you do not have prior experience tinkering with some old cameras or have watch repair experience and tools DO NOT play with the HD1, you will only ruin a perfectly good camera (I have ruined a couple cameras myself a Toshiba & a Minolta).
I believe the problem is not with the camera design and resides in a Iris lubricant that Sanyo used on that model, hence when you send it to Sanyo for repair they will replace the entire lens assembly (and probably has the same bad lub.) only to fail later on.
The way I repair them is by removing the lens assembly, then you have to remove the zoom/focus/filter/iris assm. (under the tape) then disassemble the iris, clean the sticky lube from the blades (I use little graphite on the blades for lub).
After I assemble the iris I test it with a worn out AAA bat. (1.5V) touching the contacts of the iris motor, if it works it's OK
Hope this helps some of you guys and it doesn't help ruin some Great Sanyo HD1 Cameras.

Good Luck

Hi Manuel,
Thanks for the suggestions. I was able to remove the bottom half of the lens assembly by removing the 2 screws on the side of the barrel. That enabled me to slide the iris open using a paper clip (no watch repair tools or experience here). This fixes the black screen problem temporarily, but the iris seems to get stuck again if I leave the camera off for an extended period of time. This is in line with what Mark and you are suggesting - the problem is with the iris lubrication.
I now need to find a way to disassemble the iris and clean off the blades. Could you please write a step-by-step instruction on how to do this? I'm guessing that you start by removing the tape...(I can't seem to find a way to disassemble the iris through removing the bottom cover of the barrel.
Also, what did you use to clean the blades before using the graphite lube?

Thanks,
William

Hi William,
The "zoom/focus/filter/iris assm." is joined by a plastic circuit and it has 2 motors w/long screws, 2 sensors the Iris & the ND filter, I believe it has about 8 screws.
Notice there is only one black screw and that one holds the Iris and always take note of the screw locations so you can put them back in their right place, you need to remove it all very carefully, if you tear that plastic circuit you're toast.
The Iris has a metal cover that snaps in place (this is where the 4X glasses and an X-acto knife comes in handy) and holds the Iris blades, to clean use alcohol.

Manuel

Thanks Manuel, the iris assembly was a little harder to remove than I thought, but I was able to do it by unscrewing one of the motor assemblies and stretching the plastic circuit a little more than I was comfortable with.

I took out the iris blades and cleaned them with alcohol.
I didn't have any graphite lube, so I reassembled it without the lube and the camera seems to be working so far - I'll test again tomorrow and then weekly to see how long this solution lasts.

As for lubricants, do you think graphite is the best? I'm worried about the graphite particles leaking into the rest of the camera.

What do you know about teflon lubricant? Will it damage the camera? Is it safe?

Thanks again for all your help. Perhaps a few other black-screened HD1 owners will find this useful too.

Good Work William,
I use a small paint brush to apply very little graphite (the first one I did was dry) you can get it at an auto parts store and I don't think teflon is a good idea (I think Sanyo found that out).
Also get a can of dust blower and clean the inside of the Lens assm. before you put it together.

I've been testing it intermittently for 2 days now and it still seems to be working. Fingers crossed.

I need some help please in taking the cover off the HD1.

Somehow a piece of dirt has got stuck in the centre of the inside face of the lens. I need to get inside it to clean it. I've tried following your instructions in getting the lens out but I can't get the cover off.

I've taken off 9 screws: 2 from the top, 3 from inside the battery compartment and the 1 screw at the bottom left under the battery compartment lid, the 2 from the dark grey front cover strip (front & bottom), the 1 screw from the bottom next to the socket. The cover still seems to be firmly attached at the bottom left corner. I didn't want to force it in case I'm going to break it. Perhaps I've missed something.

Please also confirm where I can find the photographs showing the disassembly, the link seems to be broken.

Thanks

Success! I tried again. After taking out the 9 screws I gently prised the case apart. It was sticking at the bottom left corner but it did come apart with a little encouragement.

After that Mark's instructions were very helpful. Once the speaker is out of the way, there way down the back is the screw that holds the lens cover. Once that is off then the front element of the lens is easily removed by taking out the 4 screws that hold it on. I cleaned it with a blower an a very soft paintbrush. Now it is all back together and working - and now without the dark diamond shaped shadow that I had in the middle of the picture.

Many thanks!

Congratulations Mirek.

We'll it's happening!
I am now seeing the "Post" blackscreen syndrome more and more

When people with no camera repair skills try to take apart the HD1 they often rip a flexible PCB that's attached to the back button panel...
So people watch out, don't ruin a perfectly good camera...

On another note has anybody had luck getting replacement parts from Sanyo?

I just experienced the black screen issue after couple years of usage of HD1.
Thank to this thread I was able to disassemble the camera and clean the iris blades. Now it is back to work again.
I guess I will keep it until the next generation of HD1000 comes out.

Congratulations Mark for starting this most worthwhile thread.
Did you ever have the time to do a step by step photographic essay into the dismantle of the Lens Assembly of the VPC-HD1.
I have everything apart except the lens assemble, I need more specific know how. I'm also treading very carefully so as not to rush in and ruin the camera.
Your valuable expertise would be most welcomed indeed.

cheers Jennifer

OK My camera decided to black screen on me this morning. I was devastated its well out of warranty sadly.

SO I took the dive and with the MINIMAL text direction on this thread I took a shot (thanks SO MUCH to the one who posted the directions I think it was 3 of you all together with the info I needed)

I could not find any easy way to get the damned thing apart (the iris assembly) I was able to REMOVE the iris halves with only removing the lens assembly cover but it was clear it was impossible to REINSTALL them without further disection.

I ended up having to remove EVERYTHING the entire circuit path assembly in totality. Once I did that it became clear how to put it back to together (they are KEYED one has to go in FIRST before the other and on the right side.

I am absolutely astonished! NOT ONLY did I manage this without destroying it (I am truly amazed by that alone) but it also now WORKS AGAIN !!! YEAH !!!

I took pictures of every single step of this process High res close up shots. I am far far too tired as this took HOURS to do (much of that trying to figure out how to do it WITHOUT dissecting the assembly fully) once I dived in and DID IT the process was quite fast and straight forward. the scariest part was slowly every so slowly removing the protective tape layers without damaging the ribbons. Just go slow.

I am going to post a fully toot later this week with pics etc.. of the entire process as best I can. I am also going to make a PDF and hope others will host it as well so we never lose this knowledge.

I also used q tips to remove as much fluid from the two rails for the zoom assembly as I could. For good or bad this should limit how much grease is in there to prevent this from happenning again.

you only really need a set of jewlers screw drivers. the set from Dollar Tree proved quite adequate.

Once you get to the speaker USE IT to magnetize your screw driver trust me its important. those buggers are tiny and many are recessed.

Handle the IRIS gidgets with UTTER CARE. I dropped them so many times NEVER attempt to "pick" it up. put a piece of paper next to it and BLOW from the side gently to blow the iris onto the piece of paper to pick it up. it will dent or bend VERY easily.

I had no alcohol so I used q tips and VERY gingerly cleaned them as best I could using one qtip to hold it and the other to rub it clean. I went through many qtips to make sure I never had any with oils or grease on them. I use tweezers very gently (hence why I dropped them so many times) to put them back into the camera.

I am just so happy and so exhausted that it works again. This camera is my baby. its my video machine and my ultimate macro machine. (you can almost TOUCH things and focus on them)

YEAH !!! Not sure it will help but if I ever manage to get another one of these I plan to leave the iris assembly OUT of the camera and see if that improves low light performance. this will restrict it to indoors only but thats ok :-)

its low light performance as it is is NOT that bad. its not great but not horrible either.

I am going to post a fully toot later this week with pics etc.. of the entire process as best I can. I am also going to make a PDF and hope others will host it as well so we never lose this knowledge.

Really looking forward to this Chris, hope you put it up soon!

Just thought I'd resurrect this old thread in case anyone is interested.
I passed my little HD1 on to my cousin, who has now experienced the black screen issue and my usual technique of giving a smart tap on the side won't fix it.
So I took it apart following this thread and the pdf manual that is referenced on another thread.
Rather than just desticking the shutter, I raised the 2 little clips that hold the blades in place and removed them completely. Reassembled and all is working. Whether this shutter is actually used as an exposure control or just to protect the sensor from direct exposure to the Sun has always been a mute point with me. As I move the camera around I can see the shutter speed changing, but I can also point it at a light source and watch the aperture reading changing. And when this happens, the picture dims. Whether the system is just adjusting the sensor gain, I don't know. But I'm happy to give it back to my cousin like this!
Particularly since in our Northwestern UK we don't get to see bright sun very often...