Recently I contacted Olympus Technical Support regarding the movement of the lens mount of my M.Zuiko 100-400 zoom. I received permission to publish the official response that I received from Olympus Americas which provides 100-400 mount clarification.
Here is the verbatim reply that I received from Olympus Americas:
Dear Thomas,
Thank you for contacting Olympus Technical Support.
This is normal for this lens. It is intentionally designed differently and the movement you see does not affect image quality or weather sealing.
Here is the official answer.
- That is not design mistake nor manufacturing mistake.
- In order to achieve smooth attachment and detachment of this lens, the size of the hole to fix the lens, which can be seen on the back of the lens, is designed slightly bigger than a hole on a camera mount. And the hole size of the 100-400 mm lens is also within our standard. Because of this, when rotating a zoom ring and a focus ring, the lens might move a bit.
- This does not affect the image quality or dust/splash-proof performance. Users can use this lens without any concerns.
If you require additional assistance, please reply to this email leaving the complete history intact.
Best Regards,
Bob
Olympus Technical Support
Olympus America Inc.
I know that some of our readers have purchased the M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS zoom lens. If any of our readers were concerned, or were wondering about a slight movement in the mount of their lenses, I thought this official statement from Olympus Americas which provides 100-400 mount clarification, would be of interest.
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I have the G9 and the Panasonic/Leica 100-400, I have the same problem and it has been very frustrating trying to find other’s with the same. Thank you for this article it has put my mind at rest albeit little . It’s a case of when you notice it you cant un-notice it, does that make sense. Look’s like I will now hold on to it and see how it all goes.
Hi Terry,
I can’t comment on the Panasonic/Leica 100-400 as I’ve never used that lens. I have used my M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS in a range of conditions including some reasonably heavy rain without any issue. I’ve been using my M.Zuiko 100-400 for so long now that I don’t even notice the slight lens movement.
Tom
I have the same “issue” with the Panasonic/Leica 100-400 mounted on a Lumix G9.
It has always annoyed me, but I have used the combo for years in wet (Scotland) and dusty (Namibia) environments and have never had any issues.
It’s reassuring to read the clarification from Olympus.
Hi Torje,
Thanks for sharing your experience!
Tom
Hi Thomas,
I recently bought a Voitlander 60mm and it moved as I focused back and forth too.
When I took it to the dealer they videoed it’s movement and asked them to send a new flange. Saying it’s what happens when the tooling becomes blunt after making so many.
Anyway, they agreed to fix it.
Slightly different response
Thought you might like to know.
Regards
Len
Hi Len,
Thanks for adding to the discussion! Since the M.Zuiko 100-400 is a new lens I thought readers would like to have an official response from Olympus.
Tom