Ring Question: Olympus 12-40 and 75-300

I have a couple of questions regarding the rings on my two new lenses to check if they are indeed within intended tolerance levels.

12-40 f/2.8

Zoom ring is firm mostly in the center. It becomes smooth around 12-16mm (the point where the lens protrudes back out), then rather firm, almost, but not at the point of feeling a slight grinding resistance. Then at the long end, close to 35mm it becomes smooth again.

Is this normal? Does it perhaps needs a slight breaking period? The reason why I ask is I purchased the lens with the EM1 as a package deal ($1,299) last month. I had problems with buttons failing on the camera and called BH Photo and they replaced the set (camera and lens) as they wanted to keep the order together. But as I recall the first 12-40 f/2.8 lens zoomed smoothly throughout the range without any noticeable resistance.

Mind you it is not bad but lacks the smoothness I thought I remembered from the first lens. Could be, and hopefully is, nothing. The resistance is not enough to return and start over again, I just want to know if this is normal as this seems to lack the fluid feel I remembered.

75-300 mark ii

I purchased this lens on the black friday sale and so far with minimal testing I am happy with it. However, the Focus ring is very loose. So loose I wondered if it would spin if I gave it is a quack turn - but it did not spin! It does function perfectly well when manually zooming so no complaints. Plus I will likely do little manual zooming so this is not a major concern, just curious.

EM1 mark I black body

While I am on it, I noticed that my replacement black EM1, which works perfectly fine, looks slightly different than the first one. By different I mean the first the black body color seemed slightly darker and shinier, the replacement seems to lack the pop and appears slightly duller. One more thing, the first body was new, new. The replacement body was old, new. By that I mean the replacement serial number was 3000 lower than the first one, it came with version 4.0 (the first included 4.1) and the battery was dated Nov 2015. So it must have been old stock. The difference is subtle and I am not alarmed but wonder if the fact that the older body is just slightly duller could simply be age - just a bit of drying of the rubber finish.

I know the above are more or less insignificant, picayune, observations but nevertheless, I figure it can't hurt to inquire.

Al Valentino wrote:

12-40 f/2.8  Zoom ring is firm mostly in the center. It becomes smooth around 12-16mm (the point where the lens protrudes back out), then rather firm, almost, but not at the point of feeling a slight grinding resistance. Then at the long end, close to 35mm it becomes smooth again.

My copy zoom ring smooth as butter throughout the range.  Grinding of any kind sounds bad...

75-300 mark ii However, the Focus ring is very loose.

My copy focus ring pretty similar to the 12-40 ring, could not describe it as loose...

lester11 wrote:

Al Valentino wrote:

12-40 f/2.8 Zoom ring is firm mostly in the center. It becomes smooth around 12-16mm (the point where the lens protrudes back out), then rather firm, almost, but not at the point of feeling a slight grinding resistance. Then at the long end, close to 35mm it becomes smooth again.

My copy zoom ring smooth as butter throughout the range. Grinding of any kind sounds bad...

Thanks. That is what I recall from my first version

75-300 mark ii However, the Focus ring is very loose.

My copy focus ring pretty similar to the 12-40 ring, could not describe it as loose...

I could describe mine as the feel of a bottle cap after the seal is broken, essentially no resistance at all - the complete opposite of the zoom ring on the 12-40.

i suspect they are both within the outer, but acceptable limits of spec. However, in twelve years and two dozens of lenses, none have been either that firm or that free moving ☹️️