Hacking the m.zuiko 12-50 to get accesible macro in any house

[EskilJ]

Hi

I'm working on a solution to use mu 12-50 in my e-pl1 olympus casing.
I'm a senior electronics engineer, and tend to modify things (hardware) to my liking..

The target is to make macro switchable by an external magnet - like how many dive lights are controlled.

Well, I've examined the hardware and found the macro mode can be accessed by shorting two points on the PCB in the lens:

(sorry for the very large sized image)
Point#2 is 3.3V (through 75Kohm) when not in macro mode, and in macro mode it is tied to point 1 or 3 (low)
This means you can go from motor zoom mode to macro mode by shorting those points. And it works.
You should not do it in manual zoom mode, as the zoom motor doesn't like to draw the zoom ring. I've tried it, it didn't damage, but I didn't like the sound..

I've bought a "Coto technology CT05-1535-G1" reed relay to put inside the lens, the make the macro triggerable by a magnet from outside the UW-housing. There is a nice hole in the top of the lens, where it seems like it can be put. The worry here is if it can be triggered by magnet fields from motors in the camera or lens. I have not tried this yet.

When going into macro (connecting the two pionts), the zoom is automaticly adjusted to 42mm. When leaving macro (disconnecting), it will go to 42mm normal mode - not back to the old zoom level.

In case someone want to play, it requires capability to disassemble and solder on cellphone size electronics. The modification is very simple, and you don't need to disassemble a lot.

To access the board, remove the four screws in the shiney metal in the socket. Carefully remove the socket, be carefull not to lose the four brass spacers.
Lift the black "wings" on the connectors to release the flex-pcb cables. Connect point 2-3 to your switch or reed relay.

I now just need an olympus gear to operate the zoom in my olympus case- while keeping it in motor zoom mode. I've thus asked here, if someone could tell me how close to perfect the gear for the 60mm macro is for the 12-50. If you can try it, please do!

When I have tested more, I will post a more carefull mod description. Expect more within the next weeks.

 

[EskilJ]

I've now re-assembled the lens with the reed-relay inside:
Coated copper wires installed:


Reed relay connected: (the reed relay is a 2-3$ thing, please select a small and sensitive one, see my suggestion in the first post)


I glued the reed relay to the inner side of the outside of the casing, in a little hole going forward in the lens, almost going under the red dot on top of the lens.
Use as little glue as possible to make sure none of it drips into the zoom gear below.. I put it as far forward I dared, just making sure there is still some space to the zoom gear further forward/Down in the hole. Far forward to make it go out in the port, to make it easy to access the sensor. I intended to Mount it straigt to make a good glue surface. It wasn't really straight when the glue cured, but it doesn't matter much:


I left some wire on it, so the lens can easlily be disassembled. Please don't put that excess wire into the hole, leave it under the PCB!

PCB mounted again, rubber sealing ring mounted, and those small brass spacers I told you to be carefull about are back in place:


Mount the four screws Again in the silver part of the socket, and you are on the road.

I can confirm that none of the actuators in the lens/camera activates the magnetic sensor in my setup.
My small neodymium magnet easily triggers the macro through the plastic Olympus housing. Magnets Work fine through aluminium too.

I've ordered the zoom gear for the 60mm macro, I think it almost fits. Will get it roughly in a week.
I plan to make a plastic ring on the outside of the port, with a glued-in magnet, so I can simply rotate it like a zoom/focus/aperture ring to place the magnet rover the sensor/away.

Sorry, I don't know why the pictures are so small this time..

 

[orenbvip]

start selling some modded

 

[EskilJ]

Thanks! But it is a simple mod. Any laptop/cellphone/etc. repair tech can do it in half an hour. The difficult part it finding out how
I just did this as I needed a solution myself. I will continue on the track to find a solution for holding the magnet etc.

A note about the 12-50, in case you don't have one allready:
I've seen in some charts that selecting the two different underwater presets should set the lens to tele/wide. At least on my e-pl1 it doesn't. It's probably not updated any more..
I bought my lens "used" at <200USD. A lot of people buy them in kits, but want to use the better lenses.

 

[EskilJ]

A clearification: This mod does not affect normal operation of the lens at all. Only when a magnet is placed on to of the lens, there is a change.

I've made a mock-up to turn on/off Macro.

Macro OFF:

Macro ON:

I plan to epoxy-coat the magnet and foot glue point. Note how I've grinded the Lego feet to fit the angle of the housing.

The man is mounted to the casing by an double-adhesive pad, so it can easily be dismounted without any damage. If I get eqpt. to mount in the cold shoe, I might need to chop his head off, sorry ;-)

My experience is that it is important that the reed-relay is of the sensitive type like the one I've described earlier, and the neodymium magnet needs to be of a "respectable" size - there is a quite long distance to the lens top, where the reed relay is mount

To see another solution for this problem, see: Nauticam Macro Port and Zoom Gear Set For Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-50mm F3.5-6.3 EZ [nau.36162] - $800.00 : Reef Photo & Video!, The Underwater Photo Pros
This solution costs 3$ for a reed relay, 3$ for a lego man and ~2$ for a magnet. But then there'll be the zoom gear also, I'll be back when I've got my 60mm macro gear for Olympus, to tell if it can easily be made to fit.

On my e-PL1 camera, one/three fish don't move the zoom. But when the camera is turned off, the zoom is moved to 12mm. When lego-macro is enabled, it zooms to 42mm and macro, when lego-macro is disabled it moves to 42mm without macro. So I can move it to 12mm again by turning off and on again. Remember only to use e-zoom with lego macro!
Fell free to copy - and to ask for tips about the construction!

 

[EskilJ]

Just a tiny update.

I've used it in the water, and it works fine.
The shortest focusing distance for the lens is a bit annoying to me, as I live in an unclear water region.

I've now read, that you can get this focus gear:
Unterwasserkamera.at - D&D Olympus M.Zuiko 12-50mm F3.5-6.3 EZ Zoom Gear
that fits oly houses.

When I was looking for a gear, I unfortunately didn't find that. I bought the 60mm macro gear, expecting to slightly mod it.
I've found that the length of the gear is fine, but the lens-hole in the gear is more than slightly too small, so it will need some modification.

 

[EskilJ]

Another update - It is possible to grind up the macro focus ring to fit the 12-50, but as the focusing ring is made of butyl rubber, it's quite soft. when you remove material, it gets softer. The postiton of the gear teeth needs to be precise, but that's tough when the gear gets soft and bends away.

I recommend buying "the Austrian gear"

 

[kelemvor]

Nice mod!

 

[nudibranco]

fantastic work!!! I guess this would also work on the Nauticam port. It is interesting because now you can use a dome port and get rid of some of the chromatic distortions while getting true 24mm FOV when in the wide angle mode. I use this lens little since at 12mm its field of view UW is close to a 32mm lens which i find it quite limiting. With some nice macro addon externally you could get quit a reasonable FOV with the 12mm now and , when in macro mode, great macro probably to 1.5:1 magnification.

 

[EskilJ]

Half year follow-up:

The macro switching option works as it should. No problems at all - neither over water or under.
If there is a problem, then it is regarding the gear.
For the macro thing to work, the zoom ring has to be slided forward to "electric zoom mode".
Inside the oly UW house, the gear can not slide (further) forward, but it can slide into manual zoom mode - or halfways there. That has happened to me, using my home made gear.
In that case, the lens will act strangely if you try to go to macro.

Actually, I never use anything but 12mm or macro. So I consider skipping the gear, using something (rubber tube or something) to lock the lens at "electrically zoom wider".