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14-42mm zoom stiffness

I had ordered a Panasonic G2 blue body with a 14-45mm lens recently from an online store. And what did I receive? I got a G2 black body with 14-42mm lens. Several minutes before I made the order, a rep from the store confirmed by e-mail that it was the 14-45mm that was being sold with the G2 blue body and that they still had some in stock.

Regardless, having inspected the 14-42mm lens, I am not overly impressed with the build quality. The focus ring is nice and smooth but the zoom ring is incredibly stiff. Ive used various cameras from the 35mm still format, super 8 and 16mm cine, and video and Ive never come across a zoom ring as stiff as this before. After rotating it a few times, it has become somewhat looser but very small, rotational movments are still quite stiff and restrictive - rendering it almost useless for fine tuning a composition if someone wants to use a little bit of zoom in such a way. And the prominent 'Made in China' lettering is not exactly reasurring! Do any other forum members who own the 14-42mm find that theirs has a very stiff zoom ring? Just wondering if this is normal. And I hope that the zoom ring on the 14-45mm is significantly looser and smoother.

I will certainly send the camera and lens back. I did not even need to test out the optical quality of the 14-42mm to confirm what others are saying about it. The stiff zoom ring is reason enough to send it back.
 
bummer

but my 14-45 is hardly smooth when zooming either ... if that helps in any way
I think anything would be an improvement over what I currently have.

Well this is a bit suss. Prior to purchasing the camera, the store were very prompt with their replies via e-mail. On one occasion, they replied within several minutes. Now that the camera has arrived and Ive informed them that the product is not what they described, there is no reply at all. A day and a half has passed and I'm still waiting. I think I'll ring them up.
 
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