Disgusting glue spots on Nocticron 42.5mm created by its lens hood

[m43man]

I was shocked when I tried to remove the lens hood from Nocticron yesterday, finding it stuck on the lens barrel even after fully releasing the screw. After using force to pull it out, I see many patches of gluey, sticky substance all over the lens barrel. Totally disgusting now that I got my fingers all oily and sticky too. Attempting to wipe off just spreads it on the lens barrel even further

On the hood itself, I see two strips of sticky leakage, which has to be the source of the oily gluey substance on the lens. It took me 20 mins to find the correct lens cleaning liquid that would dissolve this mess, and another 20 mins to wipe off the entire spread of gunk.

Has any other Nocticron owner noticed this? I simply cannot believe a premium lens over $1500+ would be designed to create a mess like this. I've owned, shot, used dozens and dozens of lenses, and this is the first time ever I've encountered a lens hood spewing glue all over the lens barrel. Is this an isolated incident? Or by design? I would gladly pay the premium to buy an Olympus lens hood than getting a "free" hood from Panasonic that is made to spread strong glue all over?! Not even those cheap knock-off hoods made in China from eBay would do something like this

I'll be calling Panasonic Canada on Monday to see if they'll send me a replacement hood. My past experiences with Panasonic doesn't give me a good feeling about this. I fully expect that they'll dismiss me with some excuse like user error. Let's see?

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[fortwodriver]

Glues do fail from time to time, but this is still upsetting. I wonder what caused everything to smudge and run like that.

What was the glue actually holding? Flocking?

 

[Jay86]

Oh man thats awful. I hope Panasonic makes it right for you. If at first they refuse if you make enough noise online they might notice... (has worked for some people before).

 

[m43man]

What was the glue actually holding? Flocking?

I thought flocking is for fabric and plastic materials, but since both the lens hood and lens barrel are metal, it's definitely not flocking.

 

[m43man]

Oh man thats awful. I hope Panasonic makes it right for you. If at first they refuse if you make enough noise online they might notice... (has worked for some people before).

Thanks for the encouragement. I will definitely refer Panasonic to this page if they try to dismiss me.

 

[fortwodriver]

Thanks for the encouragement. I will definitely refer Panasonic to this page if they try to dismiss me.

I'm pretty sure others had to go and razz them on their Facebook page to get a response... I don't think posting here helped much in getting directly in contact with Panasonic.

 

[m43man]

I'm pretty sure others had to go and razz them on their Facebook page to get a response... I don't think posting here helped much in getting directly in contact with Panasonic.

That's a great idea. If they play me around on Monday when I call in, I'll step it up on their Facebook page.

 

[noohoggin1]

i thought i was the only one! At first when i finally pulled off the stuck hood,i thought the marks were scratches Thankfully they weren't, but still a disappointing situation. Now I leave the hood off until I can come up with some solution. Yeah, not good for the small fortune I paid for it

 

[Robstar1963]

If this turns out to be common to many of these lenses then Panasonic need to be considering offering a recall - this lens is circa £1100.00 in the UK !
I believe Amin has one of these ? any problems with yours ?
Regards
Rob

 

[kevinparis]

not a good thing I agree... seems a weird thing for Panasonic to do... did you buy this new?

I guess that t the optical part of the lens still works?

thats all that really counts

K

 

[OzRay]

Does the hood just slide onto the lens barrel or something? I tried searching for images, but couldn't find anything showing how it works. It looks like an inexpensive eBay, screw-on, metal lens hood would be the way to go.

Ah, a better search reveal the mystery. I'd go eBay.

 

[m43man]

Does the hood just slide onto the lens barrel or something? I tried searching for images, but couldn't find anything showing how it works. It looks like an inexpensive eBay, screw-on, metal lens hood would be the way to go. Ah, a better search reveal the mystery. I'd go eBay.

Yes the hood slides onto the lens barrel, then you screw it in place, just like the Olympus 75mm metal lems hood.

It's unacceptable to me if one has to hunt for an eBay knock-off lens hood for a USD$1600 lens because the original one leaks strong glue.

 

[m43man]

If this turns out to be common to many of these lenses then Panasonic need to be considering offering a recall - this lens is circa £1100.00 in the UK !
I believe Amin has one of these ? any problems with yours ?
Regards
Rob

I'd like to know too.

 

[m43man]

not a good thing I agree... seems a weird thing for Panasonic to do... did you buy this new?
K

Yes, brand new.

 

[OzRay]

Yes the hood slides onto the lens barrel, then you screw it in place, just like the Olympus 75mm metal lems hood.

It's unacceptable to me if one has to hunt for an eBay knock-off lens hood for a USD$1600 lens because the original one leaks strong glue.

That is certainly pretty poor, but if it's likely to be a common and repeating thing, I'd be looking for an alterative. I wonder why they didn't just use the reversible bayonet style?

 

[m43man]

I wonder why they didn't just use the reversible bayonet style?

I suspect Panasonic or Leica thought the metal screw-in hood gives a more "premium" look?

 

[fortwodriver]

I suspect Panasonic or Leica thought the metal screw-in hood gives a more "premium" look?

Which is funny, because premium Leica lenses (and even some not-so-premium lenses) have built in hoods of the twist-lock type that retract and extend but are not removable. They should have gone that route. Even my old Raytheon (Leica-Midland) 50mm lens works that way.

 

[Luckypenguin]

The variations in hood designs and mountings within the Micro 4/3 system is terrible. To be fair, pancake lenses are restricted in offering a hood mount due to their size, but every other lens should utilise an efficient, reversible plastic bayonet hood.

 

[noohoggin1]

Which is funny, because premium Leica lenses (and even some not-so-premium lenses) have built in hoods of the twist-lock type that retract and extend but are not removable. They should have gone that route. Even my old Raytheon (Leica-Midland) 50mm lens works that way.

I agree, I really hate screw-on hoods! They just scream to scratch up/leave marks on the lens barrel! My Oly 75mm/1.8 is the same thing--metal screw on hood.

 

[OzRay]

If you want to replace whatever Panasonic uses for the hood liner, you could try this material (the adhesive backed stuff): http://www.fpi-protostar.com/flock.htm. I bought some sheets years ago and it's been one of the handiest materials ever. It's designed for light absorption in telescopes and the like, but also doubles as an excellent buffer material for situations like with the hood. I've used to for makeshift lens caps etc.