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50mm 1.4 /1.8 aperture ring


joseph_ascione

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I recently acquired a 50mm 1.4 zuiko and I noticed a distinction

from my 1.8. When the lens is off the camera, adjusting the

aperture ring on the 1.8 closes down the lens without depressing the

side button. This does not happen on the 1.4, but when in the

camera the aperture appears to shut. The 1.4 has an serial number

under 500,000. Does this distinction mean anything is wrong between

either the 1.4 or the 1.8?

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Joseph, what you say seems strange. None of my lenses (and I also have both the 50/1.4 and the 50/1.8) closes the iris when off the camera. I'd suggest that your f/1.8 lens is behaving strangely. The iris is closed by a lever at the rear of the lens, so perhaps it is sticking in the case of the f/1.8 lens. Have a look and compare them.
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Neither my 50/1.8 nor my 50/1.4 do what you describe. Look at the back of the lens. The outer edge of the mount is chrome, with the inner part black. Just inside the black part is the aperture tab. It will be pointing toward you, but moves in a semicircular travel, only partway,around the mount. It should always "spring" back counterclockwise when the lens is not mounted on a camera body. Push the tab with your finger clockwise, and hold it there, and adjust the aperture. the diaphram blades will move (close down). Maybe yours is stuck in this position?
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Test it on your camera (with no film!) - fire it off at 1 second (use manual if you have this option on your camera) on each f-stop while looking down into the front of the lens. You should see it snap to the required aperture and then snap open again. Failure to do any of this correctly (ie. sluggishness with either closing down of the aperture blades or re-opening of them again, or if they don't close to the right iris size) means there's something seriously wrong. (Another way to test it is to make test shots: check the exposure of something with a lens you know is OK, then use the suspect lens at all f-stops with shutter speeds corresponding to the correct exposure - use slide film so the shop cannot compensate for any bad exposures.)

<p>

It could be simple, like just needing a dab of oil, or it could be major. In this case, I wouldn't recommend repairing it yourself unless (a) you know what you're doing, or (b) you can afford the $$$ to replace it if you wreck it!!

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