Olympus Customer Service severely lacks.

[NoCoastDiver]

So bought the E-PL1 and EP-01 combo from Adorama in February...was very excited to get it and play around. Took it on three dives totally, never below 27 feet. Took the setup to BHB for a quick fun dive. Double checked everything before heading in, was in the water for just over a hour and took about 90 photos. Swam toward the shopping carts to get some shots, when I brought the camera up to get a puffer fish, the door of the housing was wide open.

Absolute housing failure but for reasons unknown. This was in April. Flash to today and after calls back and forth with Olympus and sending the housing and camera in, both were sent back stating "No warranty work. Corrosion present". So anyway just wanted to give a little warning to everyone with that setup. If the housing fails, don't expect Olympus to back it.

 

[mjh]

Have you spoke to Adorama? They should be your advocate. We have always found Oly to be very good with the very few issues we have had with cameras or housings. It is an odd response. "Corrosion Present" would indicate a problem in production and should be covered. I would call Adorama and have them get a better explanation. Was the locking mechanism for the latch damaged? If that latch is in good working order then it is hard to explain.

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

I very much enjoined my E-PL1 system and would make the following observations. It is very odd to me that you were able to dive for an hour at the BHB with the camera under pressure and then the rear door fully opens. It seems the pressure allown would have held the read door closed even it the locking latch was knocked loose.

i know of know housing manufacture that would replace a camera and housing if it passed a pressure test when returned and was not caused by a failure of an enclosed O-ring, like on one of the control O-rings. I am sure that if the camera, lens and housing were doused in salt water that it would have evidence of corrosion even if rinsed in fresh water or other.

Floods are no fun and most offen result from pilot error as all of mine have. Hope your are able to score a low cost replacement camera and lens.

Phil Rudin

 

[cb5150]

I very much enjoined my E-PL1 system and would make the following observations. It is very odd to me that you were able to dive for an hour at the BHB with the camera under pressure and then the rear door fully opens. It seems the pressure allown would have held the read door closed even it the locking latch was knocked loose.

i know of know housing manufacture that would replace a camera and housing if it passed a pressure test when returned and was not caused by a failure of an enclosed O-ring, like on one of the control O-rings. I am sure that if the camera, lens and housing were doused in salt water that it would have evidence of corrosion even if rinsed in fresh water or other.

Floods are no fun and most offen result from pilot error as all of mine have. Hope your are able to score a low cost replacement camera and lens.

Phil Rudin

Agreed. Sounds like operator error from the description. I've always found Olympus customer service to be top notch. I've seen some really expensive camera equipment get ruined underwater. It happens.

 

[deeper thoughts]

I too have had great customer experience with them. We flooded our xz-1 and they also denied the warranty. Floods are not covered.

 

[chris196]

Can you give more details?
You used it for an hour successfully, then the door was open? Did anything on the housing looked damage?
Could you successfully latch it with the lock engaged after this happened? Are you implying that the latching/locking mechanism on your housing was defective?

As a user of a PEN housing (epl2), it's hard to imagine the door just coming open if the latching mechanism was engaged.

 

[NoCoastDiver]

Well as a 22 year professional photojournalist, Ive made my way around a camera system or 400. Before every dive, be it with my silly little Mini II or my Canon 5d and Nauticam housing, I check every section very carefully to make sure there wont be a "Oops" moment. Not saying it can't happen, but I 99.9% sure thats not what happened here.

Honestly, I dont have a logical answer to why the rear door open. The thing that baffles me is that for the first 3/4 of the dive there is not indication of any problems, as the camera still took photos and when I pulled the photos there is nothing that resembles water being inside. Now do I expect Olympus to replace the camera, no not really. Its not in their best interest to replace every flooded camera. I do, however, expect good service from a large company such as them. I have dealt for years with Canon, Sony and Panasonic and at least their service department will actually discuss what happened and what they see as a problem. Like I said, Im just quite disappointed with Olympus.

 

[chris196]

Ok, so you have some experience, that's cool.
But I really would like you to expand and answer the questions I posed. Maybe all of us olympus PEN users could learn something.
Not trying to be confrontational, just trying to better understand.

Did you try to close and lock the housing after the flood?
Is the hinge damaged or any part of the housing showing damage?
When you say the door was open, does that mean wide open such that the camera could fall out? Or was the cam rotated enough to not have a seal?
You say you brought the camera up and noticed it was open. Where was the camera before you brought it up? Was it in your hand or on a lanyard?

 

[R-balljunkie]

i've totally flogged the EPL-1/EP-01 with it clipped it to my BC on scooter runs down to 140'.......rolled off the side of dive boats with 8' drops.......never had a problem. i sent my XZ-1 in for repair THREE times, no charge, all operator error on my part. I always rave about Oly's service. end of the day, the housing is probably still good, pick up a cheapy camera on ebay for 125 and you are back in business!!

good luck.
C

 

[FlyinV]

The latch must be defective -- If its anything like the latch on the E-PM1 I can't imagine how it would come open accidentally.