Manual focus of Olympus 60mm f2.8 doesn't work

I hadn't used this lens in a while, but I noticed that autofocus works fine and quickly, but when I switch on manual focus, my gx7 shows that it's in manual focus mode (the focus zoom feature activates) but when I rotate the focus ring, nothing happens.  I don't think there's a mode where this can be locked out with that lens, right?

I always assumed the manual focus was controlled by the same motor as the auto focus, so puzzled about why it isn't working...

Any thoughts?

benwood wrote:

I hadn't used this lens in a while, but I noticed that autofocus works fine and quickly, but when I switch on manual focus, my gx7 shows that it's in manual focus mode (the focus zoom feature activates) but when I rotate the focus ring, nothing happens. I don't think there's a mode where this can be locked out with that lens, right?

I always assumed the manual focus was controlled by the same motor as the auto focus, so puzzled about why it isn't working...

Any thoughts?

Regardless of the settings and the logic, it sounds like the camera does not think it is in manual focus. Try a different lens.

I use my 60mm only on Panasonic cameras never had an issue. Have you tried the usual suspects like dirty contacts ? It is a popular lens hopefully someone will have had a similar experience and provide a  solution

Thanks for your suggestion.

When I first switch it into manual, an icon shows up on the back for manual focus zoom.

I did just try my 15mm, and when I rotate the focus ring, the focus slider appears on the LCD and the focus point moves with the focus.  So at least with that lens, it's operating as expected.

I cleaned the contacts of the 60mm and tried again, checking for firm attachment or mount wiggle, all seemed to be fine.  Just nothing happens when I rotate the ring.  If I press down on the shutter part way, it doesn't focus, either.  But as soon as I put the switch back in AF and partly depress the shutter, it focuses and beeps when in focus.

benwood wrote:

Thanks for your suggestion.

When I first switch it into manual, an icon shows up on the back for manual focus zoom.

I did just try my 15mm, and when I rotate the focus ring, the focus slider appears on the LCD and the focus point moves with the focus. So at least with that lens, it's operating as expected.

I cleaned the contacts of the 60mm and tried again, checking for firm attachment or mount wiggle, all seemed to be fine. Just nothing happens when I rotate the ring. If I press down on the shutter part way, it doesn't focus, either. But as soon as I put the switch back in AF and partly depress the shutter, it focuses and beeps when in focus.

That leaves me at a loss, and you should continue to try to find others that may have used this combination. I might also ask if your firmware is updated.

Thanks for the idea, Gary and James.  I took a close look at the contacts, which I tried to clean with a pencil eraser, and all seem to be level and scored from the camera contacts, so I think they are all making contact.

The firmware idea sounded plausible, too.  I remembered my daughter has a GX85, so tried that, once I figured how how to put it into MF mode (I reprogrammed Fn3), but when in MF mode, it doesn't respond to the focus ring on her camera, either.

All I can think of is that whatever is on the inside of the lens to provide output that the lens is rotating and which way and how fast (?) must not be working, or not connected any longer.  I don't recall this lens being bumped harshly, and I can't see any marks on it.  And a photo I took looks really sharp.

I've owned it for a couple years so I'm sure it's out of warranty.  Blah.

I meant rotating the focus ring, of course.

BTW, the focus ring rotates very smoothly, like it always did.  I put my ear to it while rotating and can't anything at all.  Feels like it always did, if memory serves...

benwood wrote:

I meant rotating the focus ring, of course.

BTW, the focus ring rotates very smoothly, like it always did. I put my ear to it while rotating and can't anything at all. Feels like it always did, if memory serves...

I have not seen many reports about any issues with the lens. It is odd if anything was to go wonky you would expect it to be AF not manual focus , fingers crossed someone will come up with an explanation.

benwood wrote:

I meant rotating the focus ring, of course.

BTW, the focus ring rotates very smoothly, like it always did. I put my ear to it while rotating and can't anything at all. Feels like it always did, if memory serves...

You tried the 3 position switch for the focus distance limiter?

If you cannot get it to work, it means that either the focus ring encoder is faulty, or the gear driving the encoder, or possibly the flex cable to the encoder.

But not all is lost. If you use the lens mainly for macro or closeups, you can use AF to lock focus, then move the camera back and forth to critically focus. If this method works well enough for you, you could save the repair cost. When doing closeups, I usually move the camera instead of fiddling with manual focus.

Thanks for the suggestion. I did try fiddling with that focus limiter switch several times, couldn't get anything working.  I tried turning on the camera in MF mode, versus other times in AF mode, and no diff.

It must be a ribbon cable that popped out?  If I didn't think I would probably wreck it, I'd take it apart and see if something was disconnected.  Years ago I fixed my camcorder, soldering a new ribbon cable in place.  Amazing that I even found the part, it was in the very early days of the internet.

But that didn't work at all, so I had nothing to lose.  Unless somebody pipes up and thinks the lens would be an easy enough job to tackle, I'll probably do as you suggest, just use it AF only, and use focus lock and my legs to do more precise near focusing.

benwood wrote:

Thanks for the suggestion. I did try fiddling with that focus limiter switch several times, couldn't get anything working. I tried turning on the camera in MF mode, versus other times in AF mode, and no diff.

It must be a ribbon cable that popped out? If I didn't think I would probably wreck it, I'd take it apart and see if something was disconnected. Years ago I fixed my camcorder, soldering a new ribbon cable in place. Amazing that I even found the part, it was in the very early days of the internet.

But that didn't work at all, so I had nothing to lose. Unless somebody pipes up and thinks the lens would be an easy enough job to tackle, I'll probably do as you suggest, just use it AF only, and use focus lock and my legs to do more precise near focusing.

Can't find anything on that lens. Nobody took it apart yet, and took a few pics. No service manual in the public domain.

But this is the circuit board inside. Looks like there are 4 ribbon cables. One may go to the mount contacts. One to the aperture motor, one to the focus motor... and one probably to the manual focus ring encoder. Hope it helps decide if a diy repair is worth trying. Me, I would just use it as is, as long as nothing else fails.

Thanks for posting those!  Doesn't look like the ribbon cables could come disconnected easily.  I think I'll just live with it and see how that goes.  It's still sharp and I will use the suggested trick for modifying close focusing by using the focus lock and then move the camera forward or backward as necessary.  Mostly I use this for telephoto so that should still work OK, so long as the autofocus keeps working.