Olympus E-PM1 will not fire below 20 metres using Olympus PT-EP06L u/w housing

[Xscream100]

I just returned from a dive vacation to Anilao and Ambon. I was sooo looking forward to using my new Olympus E-PM1 and PT-EP06L rig. Above a water depth 15 metres, it performed as expected. Starting at around 17 metres, shutter lag was quite noticeable and at 25 metres, the camera would not fire. At first I thought it might be a lighting problem that was preventing the camera from focusing, even though the camera indicated the subject was in focus. Using a focus light did not solve the problem. The camera would fire in a dark room so I ruled out lighting. So, if it's not lighting, I don't think the issue is camera related. FYI, I was shooting with manual settings and tried various shutter speed and aperture combinations to see if the camera would fire at 25 metres, with no success.

A couple of u/w photo pros and other divers in Anilao and Ambon suggested the problem could be water pressure causing one or more of the housing's control buttons to make contact with one or more the camera buttons, causing a conflict that stops the camera from firing. There are no error messages or other irregularities in the LCD display when the camera refuses to fire.

I've sent the housing back to Olympus hoping it's a weak spring (or springs) or maybe I got a housing that had slightly off spec dimensions.

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced the same problem with this housing or any other Olympus u/w housing to determine if mine was just defective or if there's a design problem with the housing. For example, many (most?) of Canon's housings have pressure related problems with their shutter release buttons at depths below 30 metres.

Thanks in advance for your response.

 

[Abdullah]

I've had mine to 45 meters and it performed the same as at 5 meters.

My kit lens will auto focus at any daylight level, even at the housing's max depth the focus was very quick. I've only had focus delays at dusk when I thought I had enough light to not need a focus light. If your camera was indicating it was focused, I think you ruled that out as a cause.

It's odd that you didn't have any indications on the display if a button (or two) was being selected by the housing. I would think a depressed button would indicate, but I've not tried to simulate that. What were your settings?

It will be nice to know what Oly says.

 

[Xscream100]

I've had mine to 45 meters and it performed the same as at 5 meters.

My kit lens will auto focus at any daylight level, even at the housing's max depth the focus was very quick. I've only had focus delays at dusk when I thought I had enough light to not need a focus light. If your camera was indicating it was focused, I think you ruled that out as a cause.

It's odd that you didn't have any indications on the display if a button (or two) was being selected by the housing. I would think a depressed button would indicate, but I've not tried to simulate that. What were your settings?

It will be nice to know what Oly says.

Nice to know that the rig works in deep water...or at least yours does. My manual settings varied but I'd usually shoot at 1/125 shutter speed and F7.1. At depth, the camera indicates the subject is in focus and the LCD image appears focused. The lighting conditions varied but even in very good light (relatively clear water and a sunny day), the camera would have problems and always at the same depths.

 

[Abdullah]

Nice to know that the rig works in deep water...or at least yours does. My manual settings varied but I'd usually shoot at 1/125 shutter speed and F7.1. At depth, the camera indicates the subject is in focus and the LCD image appears focused. The lighting conditions varied but even in very good light (relatively clear water and a sunny day), the camera would have problems and always at the same depths.

Stupid question; you were getting the solid green AF confirmation indicator on the top right of the LCD?

I did play with my camera in the housing to see if I could reproduce your symptoms. Any time a button was depressed I got a menu on the LCD. When I pressed multiple buttons, the first one to connect displayed a menu. The camera did fire during all of these events. I tried S125 & F7.1 (in Manual). I tried to create conflict by pressing different combinations of buttons, but it always fired.

It could be your housing distorted under pressure and misaligned the controls?

 

[Audsred]

I have that same configuration and have used 1 & 2 strobes without any issue from 10 - 120 feet. I had something similar with my EPL3 - but as it turned out I had accidently changed a setting that caused the issue - but I had the same problem on land too. Sorry - I can't remember what the setting was either.

If Oly doesn't find any problems with the housing you may want to run through all your settings again.

 

[Xscream100]

I have that same configuration and have used 1 & 2 strobes without any issue from 10 - 120 feet. I had something similar with my EPL3 - but as it turned out I had accidently changed a setting that caused the issue - but I had the same problem on land too. Sorry - I can't remember what the setting was either.

If Oly doesn't find any problems with the housing you may want to run through all your settings again.

Thanks for the responses. In answer to both questions above, yes, the green focus light indicated the subject was in focus and I have went through all the camera settings a few times. FYI, I disabled the auto-focus beam and set shutter priority so the camera would fire even if there wasn't a focus lock. On land and in shallow water, the camera behaves as expected so I can't see how it could be a problem with the camera.

I'm not all that confident about what Olympus will find and do. At the very least, I hope they send me a replacement housing because there is definitely something wrong with the one I sent back.

I met a few other divers in both Anilao and Ambon who have had water pressure button problems, but not with Olympus housings.

 

[Audsred]

I agree - it sounds more like the housing issue as it works until you reach a certain depth - as the issue I had existed back on the boat too - but it sounds like the same issue as I could get a good focus (green) but the camera would not 'snap' the picture. If all else fails - do you have the most recent firmware update on the camera - it doesn't hurt to cover all your bases? Good luck.

 

[Xscream100]

I agree - it sounds more like the housing issue as it works until you reach a certain depth - as the issue I had existed back on the boat too - but it sounds like the same issue as I could get a good focus (green) but the camera would not 'snap' the picture. If all else fails - do you have the most recent firmware update on the camera - it doesn't hurt to cover all your bases? Good luck.

Thanks again for the input. I upgraded the firmware from 1.2 to 1.3 when I got home as routine maintenance, not because I think the issue is camera related.

 

[Xscream100]

Just got back from a 10-day trip to Cocos Island. Turns out the housing is fine. It was the camera that was the problem. Not sure how pressure can affect the camera but when I swapped cameras, the problem went away. Go figure.

 

[watboy]

Just got back from a 10-day trip to Cocos Island. Turns out the housing is fine. It was the camera that was the
problem. Not sure how pressure can affect the camera but when I swapped cameras, the problem went away. Go figure.

There are small tolerance differences between cameras, especially the buttons. Maybe one of your buttons extended a little further out, and the pressure at depth was enough to engage that button and interfere with taking pictures.