Dead MZ-10

I picked up my MZ-10 to play a little with it only to discover that it had died on me. One of the motors had a broken sprocket.
So I took the oportunity to take the thing apart to see how it is constructed.
I must say that it is one of the most complex constructions I have ever opened up.
When I came to the exposure meter (I didn't know that it sits just above the viewfinder eyepiece). I removed it and the collimator lens.
The MZ-10 has a center weighted 6 segmented metering system but when you look at the meter itself you see that it has 9 segements and even has a circular part for spot metering which was only available on the more expensive camera's in the range. I wonder how many parts the camera's in the MZ range share with each other.

All in all a nice way to spend an hour on a saturday afternoon
I just keep wondering how complex a DSLR will be compared to this. In the MZ range everything is placed on flexible PCB's whilst the DSLR's will probably have a main board behind the sensor assembly.

You should have a go at dismantling an older mechanical camera; without electronics to control things the parts count is quite extraordinary! The inside of an MX (the only Pentax I've had experience of taking apart) is mind-bogglingly complex with enough cogs to seemingly build two dozen fine Swiss watches...

The SP500 was supposed to have a top shutter speed of 1/500 but in fact it was the same as the SP1000 just without the 1/1000 setting marked on the dial. One could click past the 1/500 and get the faster speed!