More GAS...

Since I decided to return to MFT, for the third time in eight years, in the middle of last December, I have accumulated three cameras, four zooms, three of which came with two of the cameras, and five primes. all Panasonic except for my second Rokinon 7.5mm fisheye.

More gear than one retired, amateur, photographer needs to occupy his time, especially since he's rapidly approaching being old as dirt? Absolutely yes. So, is he done accumulating more gear? Most likely not. Since I already have the Lumix 1.7/ 20mm II and 2.8/30mm Macro, I have successfully resisted the temptation of adding the Lumix 1.7/25mm, in spite of constant emails from eBay telling me its my big chance to get one, so bid now.

However last week, I came across a Chinese retailer selling brand new black Olympus M. Zuiko ED 2.0/12mm lenses for about 40% off the current US sale price with free shipping. Definitely gray market and clearly stated by the seller that no warranty is included. But there was no stopping the GAS, plus some nostalgia kicked in, since a silver 12mm was my first MFT prime, and in a matter of minutes I bought one.

One interesting side note here is that preliminary out-of-the-box testing showed that when the AF/MF clutch is pulled back, my GX9 immediately went into MF mode with the focus peaking engaged and instantly returned to AFS when the clutch was pushed forward again. When I bought my first 12mm along with an E-M10, both brand new, the same thing should have happened but it never worked properly with the 12mm or the 1.8/17mm I later bought. So I had to either menu dive or use function buttons plus the AF/MF mode switch to engage the MF Assist options. When I complained to Olympus, their response was that the 2.0/12mm and 1.8/17mm were too old and their hardware was not compatible with the latest Olympus cameras. When I asked them, then why does it work flawlessly on my Panasonic GM5, their response was we are not responsible for how our lenses behave on other brand cameras.

Ah definitely jealous! Looks great on the lumix I came back to m43 also and was searching high and low for an affordable black 12/2.

Ended up finding a used 17/1.8 I'm still pretty excited about. Had the f2.8 version which I liked very much.

Send us the link for that retailer, can't you please?

😉

mfuhlendorf wrote:

Send us the link for that retailer, can't you please?

😉

The seller is dzone2 on eBay. They are in Hong Kong. These are new black Olympus ED 12mm f2.0 lenses but as the seller states, you do not get a warranty, which means they are definitely gray market. The asking price is $488.88 but they accept offers. I started with a low ball $440 and after some negotiation I paid $456 plus $28.50 for Massachusetts sales tax which eBay collects on everything. Shipping was free.

The current sale price for a new black Olympus 12mm f2.0 is $699, normally $799, plus sales tax, but shipping is also free. In the end, I saved almost $275 and for that, I can live without the US warranty.

victorav wrote:

bs1946 wrote:

Since I decided to return to MFT, for the third time in eight years, in the middle of last December, I have accumulated three cameras, four zooms, three of which came with two of the cameras, and five primes. all Panasonic except for my second Rokinon 7.5mm fisheye.

More gear than one retired, amateur, photographer needs to occupy his time, especially since he's rapidly approaching being old as dirt? Absolutely yes. So, is he done accumulating more gear? Most likely not. Since I already have the Lumix 1.7/ 20mm II and 2.8/30mm Macro, I have successfully resisted the temptation of adding the Lumix 1.7/25mm, in spite of constant emails from eBay telling me its my big chance to get one, so bid now.

However last week, I came across a Chinese retailer selling brand new black Olympus M. Zuiko ED 2.0/12mm lenses for about 40% off the current US sale price with free shipping. Definitely gray market and clearly stated by the seller that no warranty is included. But there was no stopping the GAS, plus some nostalgia kicked in, since a silver 12mm was my first MFT prime, and in a matter of minutes I bought one.

One interesting side note here is that preliminary out-of-the-box testing showed that when the AF/MF clutch is pulled back, my GX9 immediately went into MF mode with the focus peaking engaged and instantly returned to AFS when the clutch was pushed forward again. When I bought my first 12mm along with an E-M10, both brand new, the same thing should have happened but it never worked properly with the 12mm or the 1.8/17mm I later bought. So I had to either menu dive or use function buttons plus the AF/MF mode switch to engage the MF Assist options. When I complained to Olympus, their response was that the 2.0/12mm and 1.8/17mm were too old and their hardware was not compatible with the latest Olympus cameras. When I asked them, then why does it work flawlessly on my Panasonic GM5, their response was we are not responsible for how our lenses behave on other brand cameras.

Wow would be great if there was a setting to have peaking on automatically when in MF mode. It's doable with with function buttons, but if it works so well on panasonic bodies why were they so stubborn to also implement it.

Are you talking about Olympus or Panasonic? The peaking is automatically activated on my Panasonic bodies when I use the AF/MF clutch on the 12mm or when I mount my fully manual Rokinon 7.5mm but moving the mode dial on GX9 from AFS to MF does not activate the MF assist function when I have an AF lens mounted.

Its funny how when you asked why it works on your gm5 the response was unrelated to the question.

This, along with a couple of other encounters with Olympus Customer Service is why this time around, all of my MFT bodies and most of the lenses are from Panasonic.

victorav wrote:
Wow would be great if there was a setting to have peaking on automatically when in MF mode. It's doable with with function buttons, but if it works so well on panasonic bodies why were they so stubborn to also implement it.

It's implemented on the current Oly bodies. My EM5.3 automatically engages peaking when I switch to MF (either manually switch, or via focus clutch, or when a manual lens is mounted.)

Its funny how when you asked why it works on your gm5 the response was unrelated to the question.

Yeah, that's a bit of a dodge. They should backpatch it to all the bodies with peaking.

victorav wrote:

Hmmm, my em10 mkiii doesn't do that

It's not that big a deal to press a function button to activate it, but having it automatically engage would be nice.

I think you have to set it up in some deep menu somewhere, assuming it's supported.

Coldpaw wrote:

sbszine wrote:

victorav wrote:
Wow would be great if there was a setting to have peaking on automatically when in MF mode. It's doable with with function buttons, but if it works so well on panasonic bodies why were they so stubborn to also implement it.

It's implemented on the current Oly bodies. My EM5.3 automatically engages peaking when I switch to MF (either manually switch, or via focus clutch, or when a manual lens is mounted.)

Really? You are indeed talking about the EM5.3 in combination with either the 17mm f1.8 or 12mm f2.0 prime? To my knowledge, both lenses won't engage the designated MF assists when the clutch is pulled back to MF mode. With pretty much all other/later lenses which feature the focus clutch, all assigned assist modes are activated automatically.

It would be pretty perplexing as of why the MF clutch is fully supported on the latest E-M5 while all other bodies were left in the dark.

I don't have those lenses, but I can confirm I get peaking automatically with the 17 / 1.2 and the Tokina 300 / 6.3. To set it up I had to do:

Menu > Cog > A4 > MF Assist > Peaking > On

and

Menu > Cog > A4 > MF Clutch > Operative

Coldpaw wrote:

The issue exists with these two lenses only, all of my Pro lenses work fine. These never worked like any of the later lenses on any Olympus camera, that's why I was asking... it would've been odd if Oly fixed the problems especially on the 5.3

Definitely agree with this, When I still had the E-M10, I bought the first generation 12-40mm f2.8 Pro, which also had the AF/MF clutch and it worked perfectly.

jalywol wrote:

bs1946 wrote:

mfuhlendorf wrote:

Send us the link for that retailer, can't you please?

😉

The seller is dzone2 on eBay. They are in Hong Kong. These are new black Olympus ED 12mm f2.0 lenses but as the seller states, you do not get a warranty, which means they are definitely gray market. The asking price is $488.88 but they accept offers. I started with a low ball $440 and after some negotiation I paid $456 plus $28.50 for Massachusetts sales tax which eBay collects on everything. Shipping was free.

The current sale price for a new black Olympus 12mm f2.0 is $699, normally $799, plus sales tax, but shipping is also free. In the end, I saved almost $275 and for that, I can live without the US warranty.

I was fortunate, last summer, when I was looking for one of these lenses. I had had a great copy of one back when they first came out, but sold it when I switched systems. I got a second copy when I came back to M43 that time around (took me three tries to get a good one that time), and sold that one when I did another switch. This time around, I was lucky enough to find a used one on Ebay with a seller about 20 miles from me, and it was $340, and is a good copy. Whew. Not planning on selling this one anytime soon....$450 for a new one is a very good price.

-J

My first copy of the 12mm was a silver one. Olympus didn't have a black one yet and when they released that Limited Edition Black 12mm with a matching hood and metal cap for almost twice the price, they succeeded in really angered a lot of customers. Then they released a standard black version, which made all of the people who paid through the nose for the black limited edition feel like they were taken.

Coldpaw wrote:

The issue exists with these two lenses only, all of my Pro lenses work fine. These never worked like any of the later lenses on any Olympus camera, that's why I was asking... it would've been odd if Oly fixed the problems especially on the 5.3

Perhaps the older lenses stop sending info through the mount contacts when the clutch is engaged? And Oly relies on that for peaking while Pana has some other method?

sbszine wrote:

Coldpaw wrote:

The issue exists with these two lenses only, all of my Pro lenses work fine. These never worked like any of the later lenses on any Olympus camera, that's why I was asking... it would've been odd if Oly fixed the problems especially on the 5.3

Perhaps the older lenses stop sending info through the mount contacts when the clutch is engaged? And Oly relies on that for peaking while Pana has some other method?

If it is some type of hardware mismatch issue between the 12mm and 17mm clutch lenses and the OMD-EM bodies, then Olympus created it when the designed those bodies. They also obviously incorporated the same change to the clutch mechanism , starting with the 12-40mm f2.8 Pro lens when it was released. Olympus could have upgraded the 12mm and 17mm lenses and released them as a version II, but Olympus elected to do nothing.

Englishman in France wrote:

It is surprising how few people on the forum realise this. The reason why your first 12mm F2.0 lens didn't automatically engage manual focus aids (magnify or focus peaking), is because you were using an Olympus body. If you had tried the same lens on a panasonic it would have worked. It is camera related, not lens related and Olympus bodies don't allow this feature on non pro lenses. It is deliberate Olympus policy that could be fixed with a camera firmware update if they could be bothered. So you are lucky to have a panasonic!

My first 12mm, a silver one, and my 17mm, both worked on the GM5 I bought to replace an EPL5. For whatever reason, I don't remember trying to use the clutch on the EPL5. The really frustrating part is Olympus marketed both these lenses as premium lenses and it still says that on the box my new black 12mm came in, plus they still continue to tout the AF/MF clutch as a major feature of these two Premium lenses even though it won't work on any of their current cameras, and that's one of the big reasons why, this time around, I own three Panasonic cameras and zero Olympus cameras.

bs1946 wrote:

jalywol wrote:

bs1946 wrote:

mfuhlendorf wrote:

Send us the link for that retailer, can't you please?

😉

The seller is dzone2 on eBay. They are in Hong Kong. These are new black Olympus ED 12mm f2.0 lenses but as the seller states, you do not get a warranty, which means they are definitely gray market. The asking price is $488.88 but they accept offers. I started with a low ball $440 and after some negotiation I paid $456 plus $28.50 for Massachusetts sales tax which eBay collects on everything. Shipping was free.

The current sale price for a new black Olympus 12mm f2.0 is $699, normally $799, plus sales tax, but shipping is also free. In the end, I saved almost $275 and for that, I can live without the US warranty.

I was fortunate, last summer, when I was looking for one of these lenses. I had had a great copy of one back when they first came out, but sold it when I switched systems. I got a second copy when I came back to M43 that time around (took me three tries to get a good one that time), and sold that one when I did another switch. This time around, I was lucky enough to find a used one on Ebay with a seller about 20 miles from me, and it was $340, and is a good copy. Whew. Not planning on selling this one anytime soon....$450 for a new one is a very good price.

-J

My first copy of the 12mm was a silver one. Olympus didn't have a black one yet and when they released that Limited Edition Black 12mm with a matching hood and metal cap for almost twice the price, they succeeded in really angered a lot of customers. Then they released a standard black version, which made all of the people who paid through the nose for the black limited edition feel like they were taken.

Interesting about the version with hood. I think that's what I bought a couple of years ago, used. I was disappointed when I learned that focus peaking wasn't activated by pulling back on the clutch like my 12-100, but I got over it an reprogrammed a button for easy access to turning it on. I needed for film era lenses anyway. But it is very interesting that Panasonic does support it automatically. Obviously some difference in implementation of m43 protocol.