Author Topic: Pen F 38/1.8 focusing ring is stiff? (Read 1700 times)

edgar2016 · « **on:** November 18, 2010, 02:24:05 PM »

I just bought a Pen F 38/1.8 off a popular auction site. The lens looks excellent condition and takes really great pics. But I'm finding the focus ring to be a little tight compared to other manual focus lens I own.

I also have some Takumar & Voiglander lens.

Can any owners of Pen F tell me if this is normal for the Olympus lenses or is it just mine?

mikmas101 · « **Reply #1 on:** November 18, 2010, 02:31:16 PM »

I have two Pen F lenses (38 and 20)

Neither are what I would call stiff at all, either for focus or diaphragm - in fact pretty much the opposite.

I did have a problem after taking off the front assembly to clean an element but that related to the click stop that I hadn't quite put together right (the ballbearing was jamming). The focus ring is a more complex assembly and I wouldn't venture trying to fix that myself (unless the lens was a bargain price)

edgar2016 · « **Reply #2 on:** November 18, 2010, 02:50:04 PM »

I got it for $170 so I'm thinking of trying to get another w/ lens cap and selling this one. Unless this is normal, then there's no need for me to buy another one except to get lens cap

It's not that bad but there's just more resistance when turning the focus ring than my other manual lenses. I'm just wondering if it's because of the age of the lens, but cosmetically it looks excellent so I doubt whoever owned this prior used it that much.

So you don't recommend taking it apart?

mikmas101 · « **Reply #3 on:** November 18, 2010, 03:24:25 PM »

Quote from: edgar2016 on November 18, 2010, 02:50:04 PM

So you don't recommend taking it apart?

Not really - if it had cost $10 then I might be tempted to have a go. From recent memory of stripping out the front set (which is very easy) the back end looked fairly complex and was filled with auto-stop mechanics etc. I wouldn't venture in there without a good step-by-step - and I haven't found any despite some hefty Googling. I did find one site with exploded diagrams in PDF (link below)

If you can live with the stiff focus I would leave well alone....

http://www.kyphoto.com/classics/repairmanuals.html

edgar2016 · « **Reply #4 on:** November 19, 2010, 10:17:47 AM »

I tried a little WD-40 and it loosened up.

mikmas101 · « **Reply #5 on:** November 19, 2010, 10:56:42 AM »

Glad you got it sorted - although it's not remedy I would repeat too often. Once that stuff gets inside the barrel it's the devil's job to get it out.

edgar2016 · « **Reply #6 on:** November 20, 2010, 01:23:07 PM »

OK so I got paranoid about WD40 so I disassembled the lens to clean it out.

Your'e right! It was a bitch to reassemble. But I discovered something.

When I received this lens the aperture stop down action was a bit slow. When you pushed down the button to close the aperture it didn't spring back. It was because the lens had been previously disassembled and one of the springs on the lever arms had too much tension. I could tell because the end of the spring looked manipulated (bent). I think someone cut the spring shorter for some reason? Actually it took me hours to figure this out (ha ha)

Since I'm using this on an adapter it's not important for function, but it kept bugging me. Finally I stretched the spring I suspected of being too tight and it fixed it.

Now everything working perfect on this lens.

mikmas101 · « **Reply #7 on:** November 20, 2010, 03:33:03 PM »

A long road but sounds like it was worth it - the spring wouldn't have sorted itself out.

Hope you have a lot of joy with the lens, I'm pleased as punch with mine

Pen F 38/1.8 focusing ring is stiff?