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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Micro Four-Thirds (2 Viewers)

Hi Carlos,
I forgot to mention that, already before coming across the issue with black/underexposed frames, I had removed the AF confirm chip when using with EM-5 since I believe it was the cause of weird behavior and since it was reprogrammed by the EM-5 camera anyway without me asking for it, it was kind of useless. And the EVF + magnification is a better solution anyway.

I went out for a photo session yesterday evening, using A mode. Out of about 50 frames: 1 slightly underxposed about -0.5 EV, about 20 underexposed about -1.5 EV, 5 severely underexposed -3EV or worse and about 20 black frames. Exposure times were in the range 1/1000 to 1/1600 s which does not make sense. Looking at good results from previous sessions in similar light conditions I was shooting at typically 1/400. So something is wrong, I just don't get what it is. The exposure us OK with a 12-50 lens.

So I was wondering if the F/0.0 could be the source of errors and leading to unpredictable results. (I would have expected the camera to report -.- or "unknown", but not 0.0 which is not possible.)

I updated the FW last night to 1.6, maybe that will help. Will test again today

Do you know if there a way to reset the camera to factory settings?

Out of curiosity - what light measuring are you using? Evaluative, centre weighted, spot?

/Tord

Hi Tord,

Weird things also happened to me while learning how to use the OM-D. There is so much to learn and try. In all cases, resetting to factory values fixed the problem. Contrary to other cameras, studying the manual in greath depth is mandatory.

To reset to factory value:
Menu > Shooting Menu 1 > Reset/Myset > Reset > Full > Push ENTER > Yes > Push Enter
Important: When you see Full, you must push Enter. Do not use the Right Arrow. You won't have a full reset unless you see the Orange color message "Caution Resetting all settings".

You should also adjust the Anti-Shock to make sure shutter shock does not blur your pictures. The recommended value is 1/8 sec. It is mostly dangerous at speeds around 1/125 sec, which you should try to avoid. Set it like this:
menu > Custom Menu E > Anti-shock = 1/8 sec.

Also, if you want to use IS, make sure you set the focal lenght of manual lenses to the one of your scope, including TC, TN or Barlow. Here is how it is done:
  1. Click OK to get the SCP
  2. Highlight the IS box
  3. Click OK
  4. Click INFO
  5. The highlighted number on the right is the Focal Length. If you haven't changed it, it should be 50. Change it with the sub dial, the one under the shutter. You can go up to 1000mm. Select the closest value available.
The OM-D works fine with my scope and I don't have a Dandelion chip. I put it in manual mode and adjust speed/ISO to get a correct exposure. I use ISO values between 800 and 3200 trying to keep speed at at least 1/1000 sec.


Enjoy
Jules
 
Out of curiosity - what light measuring are you using? Evaluative, centre weighted, spot?

/Tord

I hope starting over (reset) will get you off this f/0.0 and exposure problems you're experiencing. Ihave no clue why that's happening.

I mostly have used Evaluative, but recently have been changing to centre weighted. But I change back and forth ;-) . Mostly I shoot in A-mode and fixed iso. Auto-iso seems to choose as low iso as possible, getting me lower speeds than I would like.
 
Hi

When using the E-M5 on my scope with fixed aperture I have started to get a strange behavior.

The first frame is usually either totally black or severely underexposed (-3EV or so). If I take additional frames shortly after the first one I get the following:

The second frame is underexposed as well, but not as bad as the first one (I would say about -1.5 EV). Sometimes it is correctly exposed, though.
The third frame and beyond are usually correctly exposed.

For reference: The camera shows the same behavior using both A and M exposure modes. The camera reports F/0.0 and the focal length is empty (I guess that is what happens when no lens information is reported).

Anyone experienced similar behavior?

/Tord

Hi Tord,

Have you solved your problem ? I just saw a post in dPreview where someone described a problem like yours.
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3466720

I hope this helps
Jules
 
Where did you buy the camera and is there any guarantee left on it Tord? If this was a faulty batch of cameras then maybe Olympus will fix it for free anyway. Once you start digging on the internet this seems to be quite a common problem on the EM5 with faulty shutters being to blame.

Paul.
 
Hi Paul,


There is still guarantee on the camera.

I bought the camera second hand from a private source (UK, but that does not really matter since the guarantee is valid for Europe). The seller has a high level of reliability / great feedback and the camera has been well taken care of.

However I am still in dialog with Olympus support (Sweden) who first claimed that non (micro)four-third lenses are not supported and did not want to address the issue when using the camera with a third part odd lens.

I am now at a stage where I try to convince them that at a mininum they must support OM legacy lenses since they provide an adapter (MF1) that allow to do so, that the issue is about incorrect exposure only - might be a defect shutter. So what I will try to do is to somehow reproduce the issue on a OM Zuiko legacy lens.

From memory I recall the issue with underexposed frames has happened when using on the 12-50 lens that I bought with the camera, but I need to reproduce it. I have hardly used the 12-50 lens, though, so it could take some time. Perhaps it is in conjunction using the camera when using high ISO, aiming for short shutter times?

Thanks,
Tord
 
Jules

From the discussion in that thread it looks like my camera is a lemon.

/Tord

Not a lemon, just a camera with a defective shutter. Problems happen with all makes of cameras - that's what warranties are for.

I wish you luck with Olympus
Jules
 
From what I read online it happens on high shutter speeds, like over 1/1000, so it should be fairly easy to reproduce with a variety of lenses.

Paul.
 
Exactly. We used to call them Monday cars; cars made after a long weekend of partying.
"However I am still in dialog with Olympus support (Sweden) who first claimed that non (micro)four-third lenses are not supported and did not want to address the issue when using the camera with a third part odd lens. " Sounds like they are trying to weasel out of their responsibility. You may be in for a fight.
 
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You would think that seeing as Olympus have had enough of these coming back for repair now with sticky shutters being the eventual outcome that they would just say return it. In every case I've read about, a new shutter or replacement camera has solved the problem.

Paul.
 
Yup. I was disappointed (understatement) by the first reply I received. I don't understand how they can treat customers (consumers) in their vulnerable position.

By the way - you write sticky shutter. Shouldn't the picture come out overexposed then? (None of mine have been overexposed).
 
I presume that the shutter fires but the curtains don't move at the right speed. Usually on a fast shutter speed the 1st curtain moves out of the way and then the 2nd curtain moves into position. The first curtain might not be moving away quick enough.

When my Canon packed up a few weeks ago I was getting some black frames and then the shutter broke completely. That was after about 2 hundred thousand actuations though.

Paul.
 
Sounds like Paul could be right on this. No mater what the shutter speed, the first curtan has to move first, and if there is say a 1/1000 second lag, you wouldn't notice it at say, 1/30, but the higher you go, the more that lag would eat into the exposure, and you would go black at 1/1000 second.
 
Paul, Dan

Thanks a lot for your engagement. I could easily provoke the issue on any lens by forcing short exposure times. The critical time is around 1/2000s, that is when some frames start to appear black. Firing a sequence of pictures of same subject in same light shows some improvement, the trend is that subsequent frames are generally more exposed that previous ones.

At 1/4000 all frames are black.

At 1/1000 some frames are acceptable and can be rescued (-1EV?)- All frames are underexposed, some really badly (-2EV?)

Camera is now sent back to Olympus Service with a guarantee claim.

/Tord
 
Paul, Dan

Thanks a lot for your engagement. I could easily provoke the issue on any lens by forcing short exposure times. The critical time is around 1/2000s, that is when some frames start to appear black. Firing a sequence of pictures of same subject in same light shows some improvement, the trend is that subsequent frames are generally more exposed that previous ones.

At 1/4000 all frames are black.

At 1/1000 some frames are acceptable and can be rescued (-1EV?)- All frames are underexposed, some really badly (-2EV?)

Camera is now sent back to Olympus Service with a guarantee claim.

/Tord


Well, I'll surely remember not to mention any third party product when asking for warranty on any products.

The good news is that Oly has a good reputation for service and fast turnaround in N.A. - I hope it is the same in your part of the world.

Good luck and I hope to see pictures taken with that OM-D soon.
Jules
 
The service center for Austria is in the Czech Republic. Same for you? They seem to be quite good and quick. I had to send in my old 510 twice, and my 620 once, all on guarantee claims. It went without a hitch, although they didn't solve the problem with the 510 until the second try.
 
The service center for Olympus Sweden is in Stockholm. First time experience for me, keeping fingers crossed for a smooth and prompt handling.
 
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