Olympus OM-D E-M5 Sometimes Unresponsive

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Hi!

I had such an issue with my E-PL3 in the Lembeh Strait. I use Olympus batteries and Olympus lenses. I was not able to turn it off under water, only after surfacing replacing the battery worked. I also shoot in manual mode. I suspected some kind of heat problem, but can't confirm it.

Looks like an Oly common error :)
 
I have had a similar problem with my E-pl1. It would allow me to take a picture, but would skip the focus and just fire. It wouldn't then save the photo. I found it was an issue of seating the SD card. If it wasn't in just right it would do this. Oddly, I always test on the surface and it always works but in the water it would fail. Honestly it could be the battery instead since I usually take out the batter when I reseated the SD card.
 
Hi.
This has happend to me 3 times under water. Not funny. I had to remove the battery (on the surface)
It seems that when i take photos to quick and just fireaway is the biggest risk.

I have ãpprox 45dives and 50h whit this setup.
I have more or less the same setup as above (wetpixel). Firmaware 1.5 Guess i have to update.
Oly batterie and sandisk ultra 64 or 32 GB.

Maybe the problem is that i am to triggerhappy and take raw and hires jpeg at the same time. Yes i know you dont have to take jpeg when you have a raw pic but sometimes i send pictures to friends when i am on vacation, and olympus raw is not so easy to handle.

Martin


Hi Martin,

Yeah I know it's very frustrating when this happens; for the rest of the dive you can't take any pictures! I also noticed the problem seems to happen when I push multiple buttons quickly together (movie button to focus then quickly the shutter button to shoot). I've tried doing this on land with the same settings as underwater but can't replicate it.

Other than shoot less rapidly, is there any other thing you have changed in your settings/methods that makes the crash happen less?

I'm trying to narrow down the cause, and from what you've said and others:

1) It happens in other models of Olympus cameras
2) It still happens in OM-D body firmware 1.6
3) The type of lens doesn't seem to make a difference - happened to me using Olympus 60mm macro and Lumix fisheye 8mm.
4) The type of battery doesn't make a difference - crashes with Olympus and 3rd party batteries.
5) Seems to happen when button functions are reconfigured from original.
6) Memory card manufacture doesn't seem to matter; I use Transcend 16gb SDHC you used Sandisk.

Other questions
1) When the camera crashed, was the flash used? For me, yes. You?
2) Does the crash happen when saving to other format other than RAW? I only use RAW, but you've used RAW + JPG
3) Were you using a combination of buttons when the crash happened? For me, yes, I used movie button then quickly shutter release.

Thoughts..
To me, it sounds like a software problem where the code that is problematic is used in the software of other models of Olympus cameras. It doesn't seem like it matters what battery, memory card, or lens one uses. Seems like it has to do with using a combination of buttons.

Any other suggestions?

---------- Post added June 28th, 2013 at 10:23 PM ----------

Hi!

I had such an issue with my E-PL3 in the Lembeh Strait. I use Olympus batteries and Olympus lenses. I was not able to turn it off under water, only after surfacing replacing the battery worked. I also shoot in manual mode. I suspected some kind of heat problem, but can't confirm it.

Looks like an Oly common error :)


Hi Holzstock,

Interesting it also happened with your E-PL3. Do you know what firmware you were using? Also, did you reconfigure your settings/buttons to different functions? For example, setting the Function button to focus and shutter button to shoot?

Jason
 
I have had this happen to me the other night. I was in the menu settings and it just froze - the only thing I could do was remove the battery (genuine) so I am not sure why it did it.

Karl
 
I just returned from a dive where this happened to me. This the second time it happens - e-pl3 in nauticam housing. In both instances it happened fairly soon into the dive (after 4-5 pictures), the screen froze with the live view information. In both cases nothing helped except battery removal. I suspect this might be due to heat as both instances happened on very hot days. I have used the same menu setup for a while with several dozens dives.
 
Well, I just came back from a dive vacation shooting over 1000 shots underwater with my setup and no freezes. The difference from the setup I mentioned is that I've since upgraded my E-M5 body firmware to v1.7. Encouraging! Has anyone had this freeze happen with this firmware?
 
Well, I just came back from a dive vacation shooting over 1000 shots underwater with my setup and no freezes. The difference from the setup I mentioned is that I've since upgraded my E-M5 body firmware to v1.7. Encouraging! Has anyone had this freeze happen with this firmware?

I would not conclude that it is the firmware. Between the two freezes I suffered I shot several 1000s shots, including a 5 day trip on a liveaboard where I was shooting non-stop....
 
I would not conclude that it is the firmware. Between the two freezes I suffered I shot several 1000s shots, including a 5 day trip on a liveaboard where I was shooting non-stop....

Hm, interesting. It seems quite random when the camera freezes. I've never had it freeze above water, only underwater; though, I don't suspect that would have anything to do with it.

I will try contacting Olympus again. For everyone having this problem, contacting Olympus about it would help so they know a problem exists and will look into it.


Jason
 
Does this only happen with Nautica housings?
 
OMD, Sea & Sea Strobes, Nauticam housing. Last week in Bonaire, my camera froze twice. It was several days apart, so 1,000+ shots between episodes. Had to get to land, take the battery out, then it was fine. Both times I was shooting the 12-50 (of course we had a visit from one of the largest octopi right after the first time). This is the only time this has happens in 60 dives or so. I imagine I was using the buttons fairly quickly, and both times happened near the end of the dive. I am using firmware 1.6.

I have a second OMD, for land with very different settings, and it has never happened.

Terry
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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