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DPChallenge Forums >> Hardware and Software >> Olympus OM-D E-M5 III behaving erratically
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 08/27/2023 03:23:00 AM · #1
Copied from my post on the Micro Four Thirds forum on DPReview, posted 6 days ago:

Originally posted by :
My camera has been behaving strangely some of the time.

First the focus issues. Dragging autofocus points doesn't always work. Sometimes when I touch the screen no AF points are displayed.. Tracking AF and MF assist also work sporadically.

Until recently I had no reason to use Live View Boost, but when I tried it for the first time, it didn't work. Today when I tried it again, it worked fine.

On a couple of occasions I've have photos come out totally black despite the flash firing. Reshooting with the same settings, the photos have come out fine, so the problem was not an error on my part.

And a few days ago my camera lost its date and time settings for no obvious reason.

Could all the problems be firmware related?


And the follow up:

Sensible suggestions ranged from trying a factory reset (which I've been to scared to try) to sending the camera for service. And then there was the silly suggestion that I try a different SD card. I tried the firmware update but it doesn't seem to have helped.

The camera salesman I usually deal with was on leave so I only got to speak to him yesterday. He contacted the local Olympus rep who said the camera has to be sent to Portugal for service. That's on another continent and I'm reluctant to do it.

Is a factory reset worth trying? Has anyone anything else to suggest?
 08/27/2023 09:49:07 AM · #2
Things working sporadically and the date/time being randomly lost makes it sound like an intermittent electrical issue, which probably will need a full service to resolve. However, in meantime definitely try the lower-risk options, such as:

- Using a different/newer battery
- Using the camera while tethered to a charger (if the camera has one)
- Drying the camera out to ensure its not internal moisture
- Trying different lenses
- Cleaning the battery contacts

Good luck!
 08/27/2023 06:43:18 PM · #3
It sounds like some sort of odd internal communications problem in the camera. Based on what you said, I'd try that factory reset next. All that you will lose are your customized setting and button mappings.

08/28/2023 03:28:22 AM · #4
Originally posted by Manic:
Things working sporadically and the date/time being randomly lost makes it sound like an intermittent electrical issue, which probably will need a full service to resolve. However, in meantime definitely try the lower-risk options, such as:

- Using a different/newer battery
- Using the camera while tethered to a charger (if the camera has one)
- Drying the camera out to ensure its not internal moisture
- Trying different lenses
- Cleaning the battery contacts

Good luck!


Thanks.

I imagine it's happened with both my batteries (but I'll try to watch that) and getting a new one here is very difficult if not impossible. Olympus service in South Africa is awful and I had to get my camera from Amazon. That's making me start to regret my Olympus purchase, made because I wanted IBIS and already had some lenses from an earlier model. Perhaps I should have waited for CanonĂ¢€™s R7 but I prefer the size and weight of my Olympus camera.

I don't think the problem is related to lenses (I'll check though) or internal moisture but I'll try cleaning the battery contacts.

Originally posted by Yo_Spiff:
It sounds like some sort of odd internal communications problem in the camera. Based on what you said, I'd try that factory reset next. All that you will lose are your customized setting and button mappings.


I'll try that later. I'm in the middle of a power failure so I don't want to run my laptop or phone battery flat reading the instructions right now.

Someone at DPReview suggested it could be a loose wire. I can't believe the camera needs to travel to another continent to check. By contrast Canon cameras can be fixed in my city.
 08/28/2023 10:07:35 AM · #5
Originally posted by GinaRothfels:
made because I wanted IBIS and already had some lenses from an earlier model. Perhaps I should have waited for CanonĂ¢€™s R7 but I prefer the size and weight of my Olympus camera.

By contrast Canon cameras can be fixed in my city.

As an Olympus user myself, I hate to say it, but you may be better to switch platforms to something you have support available for.

I started with Canon APS-C, and if Canon had come out with their Mirrorless line a few years earlier, I may not have switched to Micro 4/3/
 08/28/2023 10:55:30 AM · #6
Originally posted by Yo_Spiff:
Originally posted by GinaRothfels:
made because I wanted IBIS and already had some lenses from an earlier model. Perhaps I should have waited for CanonĂ¢€™s R7 but I prefer the size and weight of my Olympus camera.

By contrast Canon cameras can be fixed in my city.

As an Olympus user myself, I hate to say it, but you may be better to switch platforms to something you have support available for.

I started with Canon APS-C, and if Canon had come out with their Mirrorless line a few years earlier, I may not have switched to Micro 4/3/


I've still got two Canon EF-M cameras but I need IBIS because I've got extremely shaky hands. For a Canon camera that would require a move to the R7 and I don't feel strong enough for the heavier camera right now. Besides it's rather expensive. Whatever happens, I need to keep my Olympus camera though because it has a few features that Canon doesn't have, and I can't get an equivalent fisheye lens in a Canon mount.

I wiped the contacts on my batteries with a dry cloth and at the moment most things seem to be okay. I'm starting to think that my problem with Live View Boost was user error as the Olympus menu is quite confusing. And I need to check whether stacking is actually supposed to work with the mini flash that came with the camera. I feel like it did in the past, but I may be mistaken. It works with my Godox TT350 though. As for losing the date, there's no way to test whether it's likely to happen again.
 08/28/2023 12:57:13 PM · #7
Originally posted by GinaRothfels:
And I need to check whether stacking is actually supposed to work with the mini flash that came with the camera. I feel like it did in the past, but I may be mistaken. It works with my Godox TT350 though. As for losing the date, there's no way to test whether it's likely to happen again.


I had a couple of quirks I recently found on my EM5 that you may find helpful:
-I had burst mode sometimes become grayed out so it could not be selected. I eventually found this was due to activation of the keystone compensation, which requires more processing time, so is incompatible with burst shooting. Odd thing is that even when keystone comp is returned to the neutral center, the mode is still active and I have to go into the menus to turn it off.

-When I was focus stacking with my new-to-me macro lens, it does focus stacking only in JPG and turns off RAW. n(I normally shoot RAW + JPG) RAW stays off even when stacking mode is turned off, so again you have to go into the menus to turn it back on. I had to do a couple of challenge entries from a medium JPG because I didn't realize this. Could have really used the dynamic range of a RAW file for one of them.
 08/28/2023 01:40:47 PM · #8
Originally posted by Yo_Spiff:
Originally posted by GinaRothfels:
And I need to check whether stacking is actually supposed to work with the mini flash that came with the camera. I feel like it did in the past, but I may be mistaken. It works with my Godox TT350 though. As for losing the date, there's no way to test whether it's likely to happen again.


I had a couple of quirks I recently found on my EM5 that you may find helpful:
-I had burst mode sometimes become grayed out so it could not be selected. I eventually found this was due to activation of the keystone compensation, which requires more processing time, so is incompatible with burst shooting. Odd thing is that even when keystone comp is returned to the neutral center, the mode is still active and I have to go into the menus to turn it off.

-When I was focus stacking with my new-to-me macro lens, it does focus stacking only in JPG and turns off RAW. n(I normally shoot RAW + JPG) RAW stays off even when stacking mode is turned off, so again you have to go into the menus to turn it back on. I had to do a couple of challenge entries from a medium JPG because I didn't realize this. Could have really used the dynamic range of a RAW file for one of them.


When I use focus stacking with my camera set to RAW, it uses RAW + JPG for the unstacked images but only a JPG stacked image. No need to change settings. I can't remember how mine dealt with keystone compensation as I've only used it a couple of times. Probably also RAW + JPG when set to RAW. That's what happened when I used the defish function recently. (I only set RAW + JPG if there's a minimal editing challenge.)

I found instructions to use the mini flash for focus stacking on the E-M5 II, but it doesn't seem to work on my camera. Maybe I'll try changing my settings to JPG later and see if that helps.

Message edited by author 2023-08-28 13:46:12.
 08/28/2023 02:37:10 PM · #9
If you find that you have identified the sources of the other issues and the date reset issue is the only one left, it may be that there is a problem with the internal back-up battery for keeping the clock running. That combined with a (main) battery contact issue could have caused the date to get reset. Look into experiences of others with respect to the back-up battery to see if it has been problematic for them, and whether it is user-replaceable (it is probably not).
 08/28/2023 02:47:49 PM · #10
Originally posted by kirbic:
If you find that you have identified the sources of the other issues and the date reset issue is the only one left, it may be that there is a problem with the internal back-up battery for keeping the clock running. That combined with a (main) battery contact issue could have caused the date to get reset. Look into experiences of others with respect to the back-up battery to see if it has been problematic for them, and whether it is user-replaceable (it is probably not).


Thanks Fritz. I was wondering about the back-up battery but find it strange that it's only happened once, about two weeks ago. Time will tell if
any of these issues recur. I'm not rushing to send my camera overseas.
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