Just disassembling the late model camcorders can be an aggravating
challenge, and putting them back together isn't any more fun.
I've been inside older, larger lens assemblies, and there are a lot of
really tiny screws and other hardware that needs to be kept in order. The
iris types I've seen are very delicate and these can be driven by a moving
vane (meter) type device (again, very delicate).

When I get involved in small mechanisms, I generally rely on drawings,
Sharpie markers, pieces of tape and a clear work area where I can leave the
parts to be undisturbed. Having a 5 diopter magnifier lamp is also helpful
(actually neccessary for me), but some sort of headband magnifier would also
be good.

Cheers
WB
..............

"Jay" wrote in message
om...
I,m a retired technician and I bought a Panasonic PV-353 last
Christmas, the main intention was for outdoor use. When I took it out
this spring, I got white out on the screen. Took it into a repair
shop, parts 1 yr. warranty, labor only 30 days from purchase. Seems
it has a frozen iris, they want $185 labor for repair, they say no
parts involved. (It only cost about $250 to begin with). Can't afford
this, can anyone give me some tips to repair myself?

If there are mechanical problems, there are most likely some small parts
that may have to be changed internally in the lens unit. Taking this apart
and re-assembling this is a job in itself. There may be some adjustments
that have to be done, in order to have the zoom and focus properly track.
This is a fair number of hours of work.

To do the work, it would be good to have a blow-up schematic of the lens
unit, and the proper tools to be able to deal with the small screws and
pieces. It will be somewhat like working with mechanical watch parts.
Managing the order of parts themselves is also another task within the job.
Then if replacement parts are required, they must be ordered. A proper
description with the part number will be necessary. For some of these units,
they don't always sell the individual parts. They may only sell the complete
assembly. This is commonly done with then newer lenses, and alike.

When we get this type of work to be done, we give it out to the factory
service. If the work to this exceeds more than about 20% to 30% of the
replacement value of the unit, and the age of the unit is more than about 3
years old, we will not recommend to do the repair.

--

Jerry G.
=====


"Jay" wrote in message
om...
I,m a retired technician and I bought a Panasonic PV-353 last
Christmas, the main intention was for outdoor use. When I took it out
this spring, I got white out on the screen. Took it into a repair
shop, parts 1 yr. warranty, labor only 30 days from purchase. Seems
it has a frozen iris, they want $185 labor for repair, they say no
parts involved. (It only cost about $250 to begin with). Can't afford
this, can anyone give me some tips to repair myself?