When a mediocre lens dies

[melek]

I think most kit lenses are average at best, but when it dies, it still irks me.

A few months back, this is what I saw when I turned on my Olympus Pen E-PL1.

In almost all cases, the lens is kaput. Because it's a kit lens, there isn't much reason to repair it. (I tried, and it didn't work.)

From what I've read, it has something to do with a ribbon cable, and there are at least three tiny ones that I could see, and possibly more. In any case, the cost of repair certainly would be more than it's worth.

Short version: I bought a replacement on eBay for $125, which was attached to a lightly used E-PL6. The camera had an engraving on the side, which probably was why the price was low. I lightly sanded the engraving. It's still there but for the most part unnoticeable.

The E-PL6 is a much improved camera compared with the E-PL1. Sensor is better. Shoot at a higher frame rate. LCD tilts, It still accepts the VF-1 electronic viewfinder.

Pretty much a win-win.

The white spots in the corner of the LCD are air bubbles under the screen protector that I added. I put screen protectors on the LCD monitors of all of my digital cameras.

The engraving looks worse than it is. I'll probably fill it with epoxy at some point. I was going to try to remove the side panel and replace it with a polished piece of wood, but it's part of the entire back plate.

I'm trying to turn the E-PL1 into a pinhole camera. I need to work on the distance of the pinhole to the sensor.

[PFMcFarland]

At least it was the lens that packed it in, and not the camera. I got my first DSLR as a rear cap on a macro lens, and the only thing I had to do to get it back into operation was purchase a battery and charger.

PF

[Philip]

Nice replacement. I have a ten-year-old Pen EP-1 and, despite my hopes when I bought it, I have never liked it. Maybe I should turn it into a dedicated pinhole, too.

[GrahamS]

" I put screen protectors on the LCD monitors of all of my digital cameras."
Is that a glass screen protector? My Best Beloved had a glass screen protector on her Nikon DSLR once upon a time. She inadvertently bumped it against a table corner and didn't notice that the glass had broken into jagged shards. When she next lifted the camera to her eye, the shards of glass cut her face! I promptly consigned all of the glass screen protectors from our cameras to the bin!