Micro 4/3 Neato pancake lens: Olympus 14-42 EZ

Jock Elliott

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Troy, NY
My photographic style is "opportunistic." I like to carry a camera with me everywhere and see what happens. It seems to be an inevitable rule of life that if I don't have a camera with me, there is always something really striking that I could have taken a picture of.

Right now, I have several cameras: a Fuji XP90 rugged camera, the Sony HX400V superzoom, an OMD EM5 and an OMD EM5 II. For the interchangeable lens cameras I have the 12-50 weather resistant zoom, the 14-150 weather resistant zoom, and the 17mm f/1.8. IMHO, all of these cameras and camera/lens combos have limitations for "every day carry" cameras. The XP90 has lots of limitations except for bright sunny days. The superzoom, while it delivers a whole lot of reach in a relatively small package, is still too bulky for carrying unobtrusively. Ditto the OMDs with either zoom lens. Even either OMD with the 17mm was still bigger than I would like.

So I had resorted to carrying my old Canon G12, which I had given to my son. It's relatively thin and deploys very quickly when you press the POWER button. But I like to take lots of cloud photos, and the G12 frequently has issues locking focus on clouds. There are work-arounds, but still . . .

I began investigating pancake lenses that with a M3/4 mount, and there are three. But I wanted to have an option for manual focus, and that reduced the field to one: the Olympus 14-42 EZ.

Here it is, mounted on the OMD EM5:

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Turn the camera on, and the lens automatically extends itself in about the same time it takes for the Canon G12 to ready itself for action (about a second):

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If you look at the lens, you will see a thin silver band around it, with two knurled rings on either side. The ring closest to the camera body operates the electronic zoom (hence the EZ designation); the thin ring on the other side of the silver band is for manual focus.

The camera/lens combo is a thicker than the G12, but noticeably thinner than the OMD/17mm combo. I carry it with no lens cap and a protective filter, so all that is needed is to switch the camera on, and it's good to go. Since there is a 2X crop factor, the effective focal length is 28-84 mm e, and if you punch up the 2X digital zoom, the greatest reach is 168mm e, making this tiny lens pretty versatile in my book. So far, I've found that it focuses quickly on everything, including clouds, so I am pleased so far.

Below are a few quick snaps taken with the 12-42 EZ.

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Cheers, Jock
 
Thanks for that, that's a nice combo. I go with a similar idea and philosophy, ie. too many cameras, all smallish, compromises galore. I plunked the Panasonic pancake zoom on the gsx for a similar approach, but then sort of ruined it with a vf2 viewfinder.
But the day you don't have a camera, THAT'S the day you walk past a milkfloat in a tree :(
 
Thanks for that, that's a nice combo. I go with a similar idea and philosophy, ie. too many cameras, all smallish, compromises galore. I plunked the Panasonic pancake zoom on the gsx for a similar approach, but then sort of ruined it with a vf2 viewfinder.
But the day you don't have a camera, THAT'S the day you walk past a milkfloat in a tree :(

Check this, caught today, solely because I decided at the last second to bring a camera:

God blowing smoke rings??!! weird cloud

Cheers, Jock
 
No love for the 14-42 EZ 3.5-5.6, I guess. I confess I don't use it as often any more, but on the E-M5 (or even the Pen-F) , it fits nicely into the belt pouch I usually use with my Stylus 1, and is thus a nifty lens for walks with the dog. That being a daily task, I do a lot of my lock-down picture taking that way. Anyway, here's a couple from this morning with the lens on the original E-M5. Yes the images were sharpened, but I find a bit of judicious sharpening is helpful to most images taken on cameras with a anti aliasing filter. The 12-40 f2.8 is my go to lens most of the time, but I'm very happy to have this little marvel in my kit.
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The lens is nice and thin, but . . . I have never gotten used to the power zoom.
Even on P&S cameras, I never liked them.
Manual zoom for me.

Having said that, I do use it for a going out to dinner or similar where I want the EM10 to be as small as possible.
 
I gave my sister a used EM10 ii with this lens. It’s a perfectly reasonable little lens that keeps the camera small but gives her some zoom. She’s more of the family photographer so I wanted to be sure she had a decent camera. She always prints out the ones she likes. Of course, I did notice that after I gave her a LUMIX 20 I haven’t seen the EZ. The 20 is just a great lens for the kind of pics she takes.
 
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Hi @John King siamese cats?
They are (were ... ) blue cream tortoiseshell burmese, Herman.

Very sadly, we had to have them both euthanased last year. At 21.5 y.o. they had a good innings, but we are still grieving. They were with us just over half our married life. They had both had strokes within a couple of months of each other. They were litter mates.
 
I have a problem with my 14-42 EZ on two different cameras. E-M1 MkI and E-PM2. F/1.8 25 on my E-PM2 for the time being. Happened during Christmas lunch.

Will not extend/retract fully. Won't focus or zoom.

Bugger!

Have to buy another one, I guess.

Or check with Olympus Australia as to potential repair cost, after New Year.

In the interim, I've mounted my f/1.8 25 on my E-PM2.
 
I have a problem with my 14-42 EZ on two different cameras. E-M1 MkI and E-PM2. F/1.8 25 on my E-PM2 for the time being. Happened during Christmas lunch.

Will not extend/retract fully. Won't focus or zoom.
When researching the Oly EZs, I stumbled over several mentions of the lens being prone to the same flat-cable issues as the 9-18, and if you get a bad one, its on a limited life-span. Not too sure about repair costs down under, but for me up here its a no go, I would probably source a second hand one from the local classifieds, normally they seem to go for about €100-140, and habitually with some sort of old Pen model attached to it for the same price.

For my black EZ, I paid €120, including a EP-L8, if I recall correctly... :giggle:

I have a couple of them, one to keep and one to sell (silver), not used them much as I tend to go with the even smaller Lumix 12-32. That model is also a manual zoom for those with that need. I use both motorised and manual ones, without much thought of zoom mechanism, but I tend to try screwing the Oly ones in the same direction as the Lumix ones.
 
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