Cheap 4/3 to M43 adapter fail

[silver92b]

One question for the OP that puzzles me

If you had a genuine Panasonic 4/3 to m/43 adapter already why did you feel the need to buy a cheap one, sorry I don't get the logic in that one.

Paul

I bought the cheap one first. Then I found the Pany used later for a reasonable price (can't remember how much) and bought it. Anyway, I had a zuiko ed 50-200 as well as the 9-18, so i could use the 2 adapters. It just so happened that I put the Fotasy unit with the 9-18 and the Pany unit with the 50-200.
For whatever reason, the Fotasy unit does not function reliably. I forget how much I paid for it, but it's money down the drain :tongue:. The term "Chinese Junk" is very aptly used for a lot of Chinese made products. The QC and QA for a multitude of items made in China is non-existent. I realize that many fine producs are made in China as well, but only under the direct and meticulous oversight of the patrons. Companies like Olympus, Canon, Apple, etc. etc. Can and do demand, and get, good quality from the Chinese. Many others make junk as quickly and cheaply as possible to obtain the most profit from the lowest price. Unfortunately, it's a gamble to purchase these "off-brand" items.... To make matters worse, there are extremely few products available in the US which are not made in China....

 

[dougjgreen]

I bought the cheap one first. Then I found the Pany used later for a reasonable price (can't remember how much) and bought it. Anyway, I had a zuiko ed 50-200 as well as the 9-18, so i could use the 2 adapters. It just so happened that I put the Fotasy unit with the 9-18 and the Pany unit with the 50-200.
For whatever reason, the Fotasy unit does not function reliably. I forget how much I paid for it, but it's money down the drain :tongue:. The term "Chinese Junk" is very aptly used for a lot of Chinese made products. The QC and QA for a multitude of items made in China is non-existent. I realize that many fine producs are made in China as well, but only under the direct and meticulous oversight of the patrons. Companies like Olympus, Canon, Apple, etc. etc. Can and do demand, and get, good quality from the Chinese. Many others make junk as quickly and cheaply as possible to obtain the most profit from the lowest price. Unfortunately, it's a gamble to purchase these "off-brand" items.... To make matters worse, there are extremely few products available in the US which are not made in China....

Given that I purchased an Olympus E-1 and a Leica R4 that also did not function reliably while other samples do, and you had a Fotasy 4/3 to Micro 4/3 adapter that did not function reliably while other samples do, I was wondering if you would consider those two cameras to be junk as well? If not, perhaps you might enlighten us as to what is the precise criteria that you use to distinguish if the entire inventory of an item is "junk" when an individual sample shows a failure? Is it based upon some sort of racial profiling of the workers who put it together?

 

[silver92b]

Given that I purchased an Olympus E-1 and a Leica R4 that also did not function reliably while other samples do, and you had a Fotasy 4/3 to Micro 4/3 adapter that did not function reliably while other samples do, I was wondering if you would consider those two cameras to be junk as well? If not, perhaps you might enlighten us as to what is the precise criteria that you use to distinguish if the entire inventory of an item is "junk" when an individual sample shows a failure? Is it based upon some sort of racial profiling of the workers who put it together?

Please, don't make this into a racial/ethnic polemic. I just posted that the Fotasy adapter I bought, turned out to be a piece of junk. Seems like a lot of people in this thread want to just fight and argue. Take what I said at face value, the E-M1 is not a piece of junk and neither are a number of things that I own which were made in China, but I do have experience with a lot of cheap Chinese junk as well. It could have been German junk or Japanese junk or American junk. But it wasn't.

 

[dougjgreen]

On what basis, other than the fact that you happened to get a defective one, did you draw the conclusion that the Fotasy adapter is junk? Having gotten one article that doesn't work is not sufficient evidence to base that conclusion on. As I said, I've had individual items from Leica and Olympus (also Nikon) that had electrical issues that made them fail. But that doesn't mean they are inherently junk - it just means I got one that was defective. And I also have a working Fotasy adapter, and another working Chinese 4/3 to Micro 4/3 adapter (branded Viltrox). I'm seriously trying to understand what, OBJECTIVELY, you based the conclusion that "Chinese 4/3 to Micro 4/3 Adapters are junk". Did you take it apart and diagnose it knowledgeably? Surely it can't simply be that you got a bad one, can it? Because that is most assuredly an insufficient basis for the sweeping declaration that you made, not even about the specific brand, but the general group of Chinese adapters. Because if that's all you have to draw the conclusion you did, I'll stand by my prior post as to how I believe you reached that broad, sweeping, and frankly insulting conclusion. And the fact that you again made the comment about "a lot of cheap Chinese junk", based upon a sample size of exactly ONE article, simply seems to reinforce that conclusion.

I'll ask you again, in all seriousness: What, exactly, other than the fact that you got ONE defective item in a sample of one, are you basing this sweeping generalization of a conclusion on? You still haven't provided a single iota of supporting evidence, but you have doubled down on your generalization of "a lot of cheap Chinese junk".

Also, while your at it, could you tell the rest of us just how, exactly, you would distinguish between a single defective example of an otherwise soundly designed and built product, and "a piece of junk" given a sample size of one defective article?

 

[bye]

So I picked up a couple of 4/3 lenses which are quite nice. I figured that the cheap copies of the Oly or Pany converters would work just fine. After all, they have no glass and only transmit the signals from the body to lens and back, right?

Well, today I learned a lesson that cost me some nice shots. I took my Zuiko 9-18 4/3s lens along with the Fotasy adapter to do a shoot. I got to the place and took a good number of shots with the 12-40 f2.8 and a couple with the Pany 35-100 on the E-M1 body. No problems with the function of either lens. When I tried to use the Zuiko 9-18, at first I got a black screen ... So I removed and re-installed the lens on the body and got a picture in the display and EVF. Fine, now I want to shoot... Guess what, the camera controls wont work to change the aperture and basically the aperture and other info don't even show up in the display! WTF! Got scared and though my E-M1 had failed.

So I took off the 9-18 with the adapter and replaced it with the 12-40 f2.8..... It worked perfectly! Now, I got home and tried the Pany 4/3s to M43 adapter that I (luckily) purchased a while back. I attached it to the E-M1 body and mounted the 9-18 lens on it, and it worked perfectly well.... The lesson is that even relatively simple adapters like that can be made poorly enough that they will fail. I have wasted whatever $$ I spent on that crappy adapter, and worse yet, I missed some good shots.

The noral of the story is, don't waste your money and time on cheap Chinese garbage. Go ahead and spend the few extra bucks and get the real deal!

They're only $80 refurb on the Olympus site or at KEH for either the MMF-2 or MMF-3, so it's not all that much compared to $40 to $50 I saw at eBay. The real deal isn't all that expensive at all; at least compared to the new ones.

 

[silver92b]

They're only $80 refurb on the Olympus site or at KEH for either the MMF-2 or MMF-3, so it's not all that much compared to $40 to $50 I saw at eBay. The real deal isn't all that expensive at all; at least compared to the new ones.

You are absolutely right, if I want another one, I have multiple choices to purchase a branded one.

 

[dougjgreen]

They're only $80 refurb on the Olympus site or at KEH for either the MMF-2 or MMF-3, so it's not all that much compared to $40 to $50 I saw at eBay. The real deal isn't all that expensive at all; at least compared to the new ones.

Fortunately, I don't need one, having two perfectly functional Chinese adapters, one for each 4/3 lens that I use frequently. And BTW, that $80 refurb adapter also has sales tax and shipping applied to it (unless other items are bought with it). So, frankly, ~ $90 each is still significantly more than the $39.70 and $42.87 all in that I paid for the perfectly functional adapters

 

[silver92b]

I'll ask you again, in all seriousness: What, exactly, other than the fact that you got ONE defective item in a sample of one, are you basing this sweeping generalization of a conclusion on? You still haven't provided a single iota of supporting evidence, but you have doubled down on your generalization of "a lot of cheap Chinese junk".

Also, while your at it, could you tell the rest of us just how, exactly, you would distinguish between a single defective example of an otherwise soundly designed and built product, and "a piece of junk" given a sample size of one defective article?

OK, have it your way. The cheap Chinese adapters could be quite good but there is the chance (good chance in my case) that they will fail and there is no recourse that I know to get a working replacement. IMHO, they are not worth the hassle. Disclaimer Olympus and Panasonic (Leica too for that matter) might make equally piss poor products. You pay your money and you take your chances (but don't post your frustration or opinions in this forum unless you are ready to debate every single word and nuance you make)

 

[dougjgreen]

I've gotten products from China - and elsewhere, that didn't work. I was able to get a refund no problem, so I don't see why you wouldn't have any recourse if you got a defective item, and tested it and found it to not work when you got it.

 

[bye]

Fortunately, I don't need one, having two perfectly functional Chinese adapters, one for each 4/3 lens that I use frequently. And BTW, that $80 refurb adapter also has sales tax and shipping applied to it (unless other items are bought with it). So, frankly, ~ $90 each is still significantly more than the $39.70 and $42.87 all in that I paid for the perfectly functional adapters

I know you are always good at finding deals; do you mind sharing with us where you bought those 2 adapters? Always cool to find alternatives! thanks!

 

[OzRay]

I've gotten products from China - and elsewhere, that didn't work. I was able to get a refund no problem, so I don't see why you wouldn't have any recourse if you got a defective item, and tested it and found it to not work when you got it.

So have I, but not after the 45 day dispute period allowed by eBay, some things work for a while and then they don't. Mind you, I'm not bagging Chinese made products, I'm a virtual eBay whore getting stuff from China all the time and you just have to accept that failure is sometimes likely if you want cheap (but slow delivery). That's why, for example, I bought my Chinese made USB extension cable from an Oz seller for slightly more than direct from China, as it got here in less than a week, compared to a month. Swings and roundabouts.

 

[pellicle]

Hi

not that this is anything to do with me, but I made a 555 timer based circuit (based on general designs but modified to give me a 60% duty cycle over a 16 minute cycle and the solar pump array (that drives my floor heating system which as an aside I also built) out of my living room with my soldering iron and vero-board.

Home workshop? China? Ray, you gotta tell me about where you find those real estate deals with those houses that could house a lathe, anodization bath and PCB line.
.

when I was a kid we built things out of transistors too ... you don't need a sophisticated Lab from a movie set .... ask any HAM radio operator....


I feel sorry for the "de-capacacitated" - "only able to buy things" modern generation

 

[OzRay]

I feel sorry for the "de-capacacitated" - "only able to buy things" modern generation

I've been pulling apart and building/repairing things since I was around six years old, as anything technical/mechanical has always fascinated me. I love to work with metal, as it's a material that can be more easily managed and fixed if minor errors occur; whereas, when it comes to wood, I can measure five times, cut once and still get it wrong. I only ever employ a tradesman at home if I need to do so in order to have some work formally approved to meet some building approval requirement.

If I hadn't been so much into photography, I'd now have a workshop with a metal lathe, milling machine, metal folder, welders etc.

 

[dougjgreen]

They were both from ebay sellers whom I have dealt with multiple times: rainbowimaging and emilyandlilly. I was off by a few cents in the prices I quoted - they are actually very slightly cheaper than what I stated previously:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AF-Four-Thi...ens_Adapters_Mounts_Tubes&hash=item4d231c2c99

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEEWER-4-3-...ter-Olympus-PanasonicDMC-EM-01-/311099501732?

 

[dougjgreen]

So have I, but not after the 45 day dispute period allowed by eBay, some things work for a while and then they don't. Mind you, I'm not bagging Chinese made products, I'm a virtual eBay whore getting stuff from China all the time and you just have to accept that failure is sometimes likely if you want cheap (but slow delivery). That's why, for example, I bought my Chinese made USB extension cable from an Oz seller for slightly more than direct from China, as it got here in less than a week, compared to a month. Swings and roundabouts.

Ebay has changed their dispute timeframe. You now have 30 days after the last date the item was expected to arrive. So you can still return a defective item that took 45 days to arrive, or that never arrived after a shipping window that was more than 45 days long.

I recently got a refund on a couple of step-up rings that never showed up after 50 days.

 

[OzRay]

Ebay has changed their dispute timeframe. You now have 30 days after the last date the item was expected to arrive. So you can still return a defective item that took 45 days to arrive.

Unfortunately, eBay doesn't provide the same warranty that OEM purchases do in Australia. I found that out with a set of very poor third party batteries; the run around I got from eBay was amusing to say the least and this involved one of their (supposedly) Australian based sellers. I've never had issues if I've raised a dispute within the designated time period.

In Australia any product bought from a local retailer has, effectively, way more than a one year warranty depending on the nature of the item. What it boils down to is how long a product would reasonably be expected to last, especially based on purchase price. For example, while Olympus may offer a one year warranty on say an E-M1, if something one would expect to last longer fails, the purchaser still has a legal right to a warranty claim after one year (as long as misuse is not a cause).

 

[silver92b]

I can't even find the transaction in Ebay (or Amazon). I guess I'm just out of whatever I paid for that junk.