SOLVED OM / Olympus 100-400mm f5-f6.3 Mk1 front ring missing scews - has anyone managed to source these?

[BDennis]

It seems I failed the task in my regular tightening of these scews on the front ring of my 100-400mm mk1 and one has fallen out somewhere

Google suggests the type of screw is "micro screw M1.7 4mm" - has anyone confirmed this is the case and managed to source them?

I will apply to OM Support for help with this but don't really want to send it off to Portugal and pay £££ for this simple thing, maybe they can send some spares.

A shame they only attached this part with 3 screws as once one is lost the ring is quite loose and will get worse with removal / attachment of the reversed hood supplied with it.

Maybe an excuse to swap it out for that new 50-200mm f2.8 which should be better build quality for the price

Bill


Olympus / OM 100-400mm f5-f6.3 screw missing by Bill Dennis, on Flickr

Took a remaining screw out and tried to measure it, 4mm looks about right. Not sure about the M1.7 bit


Olympus / OM 100-400mm f5-f6.3 front ring screw by Bill Dennis, on Flickr


Olympus / OM 100-400mm f5-f6.3 front ring screw by Bill Dennis, on Flickr

[blackfox]

Think I had a tub of old camera screws that I sent to another member on here ? A year or two ago . I didn’t want them back so they should still have them .hopefully they will spot this and pass them on ..
the other option bill is to ring either a.j Johnson in Glasgow or Luton cameras and see if they can send you one ..once hopefully fixed I would suggest fitting a silicone wrist band to hold them in place .thats what I used


just checked I sent them to dereckC on here don’t know if he’s still around ?

[Wildwood]

I'm not sure M1.7 is a valid metric size. The information I can find has them going from 1mm to 2mm in 0.2mm increments. You really need to accurately measure across the thread to get the actual size. They're available on Ebay. I suggest using Loctite when fixing them.

[BDennis]

Think I had a tub of old camera screws that I sent to another member on here ? A year or two ago . I didn’t want them back so they should still have them .hopefully they will spot this and pass them on ..
the other option bill is to ring either a.j Johnson in Glasgow or Luton cameras and see if they can send you one ..once hopefully fixed I would suggest fitting a silicone wrist band to hold them in place .thats what I used


just checked I sent them to dereckC on here don’t know if he’s still around ?

Thanks both - I have contacted OM Support and Luton Camera Repairs to see if they can supply spares. I'll wait and see if they can help. Otherwise there seems to be one seller on eBay claiming to have compatible screws but you really need the right size to not mess up the lens sticking any old bolt in there!

IMO this supposedly Sigma design lens is an inferior construction to others in this respect. I looked at my now defunct 4/3 50-200mm with jammed zoom in case I could scavenge screws from it and it has no screws like this at all visible round the front ring which never got loose. That leaves the "broken by OM repair service centre" 90-250mm f2.8 which I am not inclined to scavenge in case it might be repairable by some other outfit.

Bill

[BDennis]

Update on this in case it's of use to anyone else:

- Luton Camera repairs - can't supply screws as OM / Olympus do not supply them any repair parts (I think this has been mentioned before on here).

- OM System Support - company policy is that they can't supply / sell screws and the lens has to be sent off to them for service / repair at a fixed price of £300.61 out of warranty - "We replace the spare parts, as requested, and will attend to any other flaws detected, as well as make any adjustments needed and offer a general cleaning. After the repair service you are granted six additional months of warranty.". Helpful and would be a good lens service but quite expensive if the only issue is really a missing screw!

I have found an eBay vendor selling these screws said to fit the 100-400mm and ordered some, about £11 for 5 screws including postage (which was more than the parts cost!). Will feed back if they work.

Bill

[Gerry]

Ouch, £300.61 for a small screw is much more that just stretching it. Despite all my words of praise after my experience with OM Systems repair service I do find such actions to be very disappointing from a customer point of view.

[Wreckdiver]

Ouch! Are they real? When you need a small part for something and you think that there must be dozens of the same product around the country that are broken/damaged/beyond repair and have been scrapped. How many items are returned to OM System for repair and deemed uneconnomic to repair and are scrapped? All those products would be worth a lot of money as donors for spare parts. Maybe one day an entrepreneur will realise this and set-up in business recycling old photo gear. I believe there are companies in the UK that are doing just that with domestic appliances.

We send huge amounts of electronic goods to scrap, often still fully working, when the owners want something newer or better. We live in a mad world!

[Wreckdiver]

I had a dig through my spare screws pot but couldn't find anything quite that small (I have that lens and I removed one of those 3 screws). I tend to save small screws from unrepairable things I dismantle. I'll keep looking.

[BDennis]

Thanks Steve - no need to sweat it with the search, the ones I ordered should arrive in the next few days.

I junked an old laptop a while back - removed the HDD and memory but I should have scavenged all the tiny screws holding it together, it would have made a useful spares supply!

Bill

[blackfox]

Don’t forget bill when fixed get a silicone charity band ( black) to fit over the screws and hold them in place .cheap enough on e.bay

[BDennis]

Ouch! Are they real? When you need a small part for something and you think that there must be dozens of the same product around the country that are broken/damaged/beyond repair and have been scrapped. How many items are returned to OM System for repair and deemed uneconnomic to repair and are scrapped? All those products would be worth a lot of money as donors for spare parts. Maybe one day an entrepreneur will realise this and set-up in business recycling old photo gear. I believe there are companies in the UK that are doing just that with domestic appliances.

We send huge amounts of electronic goods to scrap, often still fully working, when the owners want something newer or better. We live in a mad world!

I agree. There is an EU right to repair directive but all aspects of it are not coming online very quickly for things like cameras if you look at this web page

https://repair.eu/whats-my-right-to-repair/

In the UK, maybe for washing machine type appliances it's getting better. There may be a niche for enterprising repair shops for small items like cameras and lenses in the UK - I think there is for old film cameras. Maybe more like this company Jeff mentioned who incidentally have a photo of loads of little screws on one of their web pages!

https://www.ajjohnstone.net/camera-requiring-repair-or-service

Bill

[Gerry]

What's interesting about this situation is the fact that OM Systems do not provide spare parts to 3rd party suppliers.

How exactly do those grey importers manage to get their goods repaired under warranty if they can't source to parts?

[blackfox]

Mostly done at the company mentioned above

[Phill D]

Luton Cameras used to be an official Olympus dealer but they have not been able to get any spares for some years. Maybe AJ Johnstone have an exclusive deal.

[BDennis]

Just thought I'd feed back on this, I got some screws from the seller on eBay

"Lens Screws Olympus 100-400mm F5-6.3 M.Zuiko IS Digital ED m4/3 Lens 1 screw"

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/314074187780

They took a while to arrive due to Royal Mail (no fault of the seller). They fit the lens no problem and hopefully won't fall out. I just used one so have some spares.

I should get a silicone band to retain any loose screws in future as suggested by Jeff blackfox - I did have an ordinary rubber band the postie dropped but it must have perished and fell off!

Cost was about £11 (most of it postage) instead of the approx £300 to send off to the OM service centre out of warranty.

Bill

[chrisjim]

Hi Bill, this is the link to the ones I bought on Amazon for my 100-400 https://amzn.eu/d/gx3gcGe

[blackfox]

That’s great bill .funnily enough I was looking for something the other day and found a box of black charity bands and a film canister with lens screws in it .. ,gonna have to have a clear out got far to much stuff lying around

[Wildwood]

I should get a silicone band to retain any loose screws in future as suggested by Jeff blackfox - I did have an ordinary rubber band the postie dropped but it must have perished and fell off!

Loctite would be more sensible. There are many, many grades. You want one which doesn't hold too strongly so that disassembly would still be possible so use either 222 or 243.

[Keith-369]

Thanks for that info, Wildwood, if mine come loose I would have just got 'Loctite' without knowing the differences.

[djrwhittle]

Originally posted by BDennis

”I should get a silicone band to retain any loose screws in future as suggested by Jeff blackfox”

I followed Jeff’s advice as soon as I got my 100-400 and popped a black charity band over the screws. I’ve never checked if the screws are still tight as I’m worried to take the band off in case they’re loose under there and I drop them . Excellent idea in the first place Jeff .

Derek

[blackfox]

It’s a suggestion I made years ago when the problem was first muted , not even sure if it was my idea or something I picked up on the interwebby place. , but it works and is less permanent than loctite .. I don’t like putting any type of glue near photo gear