Om-1 and Panny 14-45 shock

I wanted to carry a small lightweight setup today and put my 13 year old Panasonic 14-45 lens on the om-1 . What a shock, it was tack sharp, I really didn't expect that. It was developed alongside the original 12mp Panasonic G1 camera.

Furthermore long sgo this particular lens fell 20 feet onto granite and literally broke in half. The front part with glass elements rolled off down the hillside collecting grass and mud ong the way!

Considering it to be scrap I just superglued it back together. And was really shocked to find it works perfect, including the focus and stabilisation !!

... Oh and how I wish I had cleaned the grass and mud from the inside before I had glued it, but of course I never expected it to work again.

Interestingly the internal dirt doesn't affect the photos.

The upshot is that I will be happily using this old dinasoar a lot with my OM-1 in the future.

Yes, as being posted by its owners so far, 14-45 is a fantastic lens.

Together with 45-200 it was the twin lens kit set of G1, already 14 years old with me. It was replaced by 12-32 8 years ago because I prefer a wider lens. IMHE 14-45 has better IQ, not day and night different but is observable.

Adrian Harris wrote:

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... Oh and how I wish I had cleaned the grass and mud from the inside before I had glued it, but of course I never expected it to work again.

Interestingly the internal dirt doesn't affect the photos....

in the spirit of "broken lens" discussions, i love this old blog post

https://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2008/10/front-element-scratches/

Thanks for the reminder, Adrian. I mainly use prime lenses and legacy glass on my E-M1 and never really considered the 14-45. Anyway, I might pick up a copy and compare it to my 12-40 and 12-32.

(BTW, no need to praise the amazing 12-40 here but for some reason I use the 12-32 more than the 12-40, blame it on the wide end and above all the compactness. With the 12-40 the E-M1 is almost as large and heavy as the Fuji X-T1 with the 18-55 and nothing I'd like to carry around all day every day either.)

I'll report back.

evoprox wrote:

Thanks for the reminder, Adrian. I mainly use prime lenses and legacy glass on my E-M1 and never really considered the 14-45. Anyway, I might pick up a copy and compare it to my 12-40 and 12-32.

(BTW, no need to praise the amazing 12-40 here but for some reason I use the 12-32 more than the 12-40, blame it on the wide end and above all the compactness. With the 12-40 the E-M1 is almost as large and heavy as the Fuji X-T1 with the 18-55 and nothing I'd like to carry around all day every day either.)

I'll report back.

Ah maybe I should have mentioned that I do have both the Olympus 12-40 f2.8 & the smaller and lighter Panasonic 12-35 f2.8 as well. But yesterday I wanted to travel lighter and with more reach than the 12-35.  ... I wasn't going to be doing any 'serious' photography and I also wanted smaller than the Panasonic 14-140, so though, heck why not.

What I really didn't expect was very impressive results. But would certainly use it again without hesitation - and for serious photography ....as long as the superglue holds out, but hey, it has for 8 years so far

What I really didn't expect was very impressive results. But would certainly use it again without hesitation - and for serious photography ....as long as the superglue holds out, but hey, it has for 8 years so far

I have always felt that the 14-45 is prime-sharp also at tele. Though not as sharp as the 20/17, that thingy is awesome. The 14-45 is dirt-cheap on the used market anyway.

Bas

I have kept hold of my old 14-45mm too, as is great for my video purposes, due to it being sharp....but not too sharp.

I mainly use it for opening video scenes of the habitat i am filming in. It is the widest focal length zoom i own, and have never felt the need to replace it, so far.

In fact i used it yesterday, for some wider clips to compliment my telephoto clips, for my Sand Martin project { which will include the local Dippers too}.

An example from yesterday, with my 14-45mm:

https://youtu.be/WE3cFfp7g1Q

I enjoyed that video clip - very relaxing.

I presume this is in Britain - it may be 40 years since I left there, but it sure has that feel...

I look forward to seeing some of your Dipper shots - European Dippers are prettier than the US species but they are one of the most fascinating birds for me.

So far every lens I have mounted on my OM-1 has outperformed itself.

Adrian, that's one of the funnier posts I've seen here in quite a while!  Anyway I'm very happy for you and I hope you don't drop it again.  Might be harder to glue together the 2nd time.😜

Bobby J wrote:

Adrian, that's one of the funnier posts I've seen here in quite a while! Anyway I'm very happy for you and I hope you don't drop it again. Might be harder to glue together the 2nd time.😜

I was trying pole photography to get a fresh angle, but clambering over rocks I slipped over. So the GX7 with 14-45 attached at the top of a 20ft pole came down like a whip onto a granite boulder. There was a horrid smashing sound and then I saw the lens front elements and part of the barrel continuing their journey alone

I was amazed the GX7 still worked !

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BJM