Roger Cicala debunks some plastic-metal mount myths (in defense of the Olympus 12-40mm lens).
- Image and text courtesy Lensrentals:
- “Panasonic-Leica 45mm. The 4 empty plastic holes are where the lens mount attaches. The 3 screws still in place attach this plastic piece to the next plastic piece in the lens barrel.”
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As you know some people are arguing about the Olympus 12-40mm internal pastic mount. Well Roger Cicala from LensRentals debunks the myth saying “metal mount is better” or “professional lenses have always metal mounts”. With many pictures he shows how famous lenses like the Canon 35mm f/1.4 L, Panasonic-Leica 45mm, Canon 24-70 f/2.8 L Mk and so on do actually have a plastic mounts:
Looking at 7 years worth of data involving around 20,000 lenses I can’t find any suggestion that plastic mount lenses, in general, fail more than metal mount lenses. Sure, there are certain lenses that fail more than others, but not because they have a plastic mount.
Obviously a few Olympus 12-40mm lenses have broken at the mount. It may be there was a batch of badly molded mounts. It may be a design flaw. It may just be random chance – a few of everything break. But it’s not just because the mount is plastic.
Interesting read!