Hurts almost as bad as breaking a pen... camera death

[KBeezie]

Was out shooting my boys downtown yesterday who I haven't seen in several months (because she's been taking them almost everywhere but grand rapids, or when she is in town, I don't know about it). Right in the middle of taking a shot the camera freezes up and shuts off. Switching lens, battery, or cards doesn't help, and the shutter is locked down (First time I ever seen that). Turns out it's basically a permanent failure which requires sending it off, I got the E-M5 used early last year and it already had the shutter box repaired/replaced in march 2015, and that ran about $190 which the used seller and I split the cost of.

Well this is way past the 6 month repair warranty and I don't have the money to either get it fixed or replaced (used the E-M5 1st version runs around 300-350).





So depressing, I might have to actually part with a pen (or pens) of enough value just to get it replaced, assuming the smartphone shots would be enough to sell it (Since I usually credit my photography to helping sell the pens to date).




But at least the card only lost the last couple frames in the buffer, the rest of the card had the photos intact.

I only got around to processing the one of my second oldest Karl, mainly cuz I got some school stuff to do today, then will look at the rest of the pictures this afternoon.

[TSherbs]

shucks!

After a year of doing without a camera, I just replaced my defunct Rebel XT body for $70. You are a better photographer by far than I, but I feel your pain.

[penwash]

That's a bummer. Usually sending the camera back to Olympus for repair would give you pretty much a new camera.

I was (still am to a degree) an Olympus nut.
I was shooting with my OM-3 and E-P2 up until last year.
Given the chance I still would do it even though now my meager spare time has been spent on fountain pens.

[KBeezie]

I'm planning on sending it in for an evaluation, but if it's over 200, I may just opt to replace when I can.

In the meantime I dusted off my e-p3 which has been sitting unused got a year and a half to see if it still functions ok with my existing lens. If it does I may just have to go back to the camera I been using for 6 years until I can get it re-up graded.

This is after all why I prefer having two bodies that take the same lens, I just expected the older one to die first. And I don't want to take on any event jobs without having two of everything.

[KBeezie]

Least my old E-P3 doesn't seem to be fussing with either the 45/1.8 or the 12/2.0 (one of the lens I had in the past was erratic with it, I just can't remember which, probably the Panny 20/1.7).



If that holds up it won't be so miserable as I send out the E-M5 to Oly for an evaluation and pray it's not over $200.

[Frank]

That's a shame Karl. Hope it works out!

Frank

[Paddler]

I have never had a camera break like that. I have, however, had one put out of business because mercury button batteries have been banned. All of my extra lenses, tele-adapters, bellows, microscope and telescope adapters, and filters are now just so much junk because the "replacement" batteries are the wrong voltage. Now, if THAT doesn't frost your granny's knuckles then I'm a Democrat.

[tmenyc]

My old Nikon FE (pre-D in front of SLR...) did that, but after 15 years of use, so sorry to hear. I'd put in a few votes for the Canon Rebel SL1. It's substantially lighter and smaller than other DSLRs, because there is a lot of miniaturization in there. Canon addicts complain that the buttons aren't in the right places, which is a Canon thing, but since it's my first Canon that's not a problem for me. The only drawback is that you really can't use it on Live View, seeing the images on your computer screen live, for more than 20 shots before the camera overheats and shuts down. I guess the miniaturization cost them heat sink and deflection space. That was certainly useful for pen photography, which is my major (by far...) use of the camera, but I do most of the fine work, except focusing, in post-processing anyway. Great camera.

Tim

[KBeezie]

I have never had a camera break like that. I have, however, had one put out of business because mercury button batteries have been banned. All of my extra lenses, tele-adapters, bellows, microscope and telescope adapters, and filters are now just so much junk because the "replacement" batteries are the wrong voltage. Now, if THAT doesn't frost your granny's knuckles then I'm a Democrat.

They actually make a replacement/adapter (or they did) that fits a smaller watch battery inside of it that dials down the voltage to the correct 1.3v We had them around the camera shop before it went out of business.

[KBeezie]

My old Nikon FE (pre-D in front of SLR...) did that, but after 15 years of use, so sorry to hear. I'd put in a few votes for the Canon Rebel SL1. It's substantially lighter and smaller than other DSLRs, because there is a lot of miniaturization in there. Canon addicts complain that the buttons aren't in the right places, which is a Canon thing, but since it's my first Canon that's not a problem for me. The only drawback is that you really can't use it on Live View, seeing the images on your computer screen live, for more than 20 shots before the camera overheats and shuts down. I guess the miniaturization cost them heat sink and deflection space. That was certainly useful for pen photography, which is my major (by far...) use of the camera, but I do most of the fine work, except focusing, in post-processing anyway. Great camera.

Tim

I am not going to a Canon DSLR I had one, I've had Pentax DSLR, I'm not going to DSLR period, I Got too much invested in the lens :

• Olympus 9mm f/8
• Olympus 12mm f/2.0
• Olympus 17mm f/2.8
• Olympus 45mm f1/1.8
• Panasonic 20mm f/1.7
• Sigma 30mm f/2.8 (been trying to sell this one)
• Sigma 60mm f/2.8
• *Pentax-M 50mm f/1.4
• *Rokinon (P-KA) 85mm f/1.4
• *Tamron SP Adaptall 90mm f/2.8 1:1 Lifesize Macro
• *Jupiter-11 (Leica Thread Mount) 135mm f/4 (one of my sharpest wide open)

*Adapted via a [Blank]-to-Micro4/3rd adapter

Most of my Pen pictures are done with the Sigma 60mm f/2.8 (mostly full body shots etc, very sharp at 100%) and the Tamron 90/2.8 (close macro shots).
The daily carry tends to be at a minimum the 12/2.0, 20/1.7 and 45/1.8 , with occasionally the 135/4 and 9/8 hitching a ride (The 9mm is no bigger than a chewing tobacco tin).

[jar]

My little sister fell asleep at the beach once when she had been shooting with my old Rollei Twin Reflex and the tide came in filling it with salt water and sand.

Tide went out and she woke up with a severe sunburn and one pretty sad piece of German Engineering.

[tmenyc]

wow, a 9mm lens. Never SEEN one of those. I know the Pentax 50/1.4, beautiful lens. Friend of mine has that on his DSLR with an adaptor. Makes him work slowly.
Also -- the 1:1 macro -- how does that work? 90mm at 2.8 you must see everything!

This is not user photography -- are you a pro?
Tim

[KBeezie]

wow, a 9mm lens. Never SEEN one of those. I know the Pentax 50/1.4, beautiful lens. Friend of mine has that on his DSLR with an adaptor. Makes him work slowly.
Also -- the 1:1 macro -- how does that work? 90mm at 2.8 you must see everything!

This is not user photography -- are you a pro?
Tim

Micro-4/3rd sensors have a 2.0x crop factor (compared to Canon cropped at 1.6x and Nikon at 1.5x), so a 9mm is technically giving an 18mm equivalent field of view (where as the 12mm = 24mm equiv making it a nice 'street' lens).

1:1 Meaning Lifesize, means that at maximum close focus, the subject captured in the frame is exactly 1-to-1 in size with the sensor. So if the sensor is 1" across, the subject captured is exactly 1" across. The 90mm focal length (180mm equiv) basically gives me more working distance between the lens and subject, which is good if you are trying to avoid blocking the light.

Pro depends on your definition (ie: quality/consistency of shots versus being paid like one... I'd like to be paid like one, regularly), I have been paid to shoot events, products, etc on occasion, but those opportunities only come up so often.

https://500px.com/kbeezie
http://kbeezie.deviantart.com/gallery/?catpath=/
http://karlblessing.com/

An example off that 9mm



The 12mm



The 20mm



The 45mm




The Pentax-M 50mm



The Sigma 60mm



The Rokinon 85mm



The Tamron 90mm



The Jupiter-11 135mm

[TSherbs]

uh, yeah

pro!

[KBeezie]

Friend of mine has that on his DSLR with an adaptor. Makes him work slowly.

PS: Problem with adapting to DSLR is the registration distance is too large on most of them (particularly the EOS mount) and those cameras tend to be ill-suited for full manual lens without any form of electronic contacts (and most of the newer Nikons on the lower price brackets simply won't work correctly with a lot of the older Ai'd manual focus lens).

With the Olympus (both the E-P3 and E-M5, and most of the others) and their micro-4/3rd mount, the registration distance is short enough (due to lack of mirror) that you can adapt nearly any lens to it since even the leica thread mount is a longer registration distance from back of the lens to the film/sensor. So they make for popular options to use on Olympus or Panasonic mirrorless. On both my E-P3 and E-M5 the liveview is superb and responsive (as would be the case with most mirrorless otherwise they'd be useless), plus a touch screen so I can easily tap a spot on the screen to zoom into 100% and manually focus tack sharp there, and all the lens are image stabilized with the body-based IS (was much better on the E-M5 than the E-P3 since it's 5-axis vs 3-axis IS).

Essentially I can simply move/work much more quickly even with 40+ year old manual focus lens on my Olympus's than I Could when I had a Digital Rebel or Pentax K-10D adapted.


Also back when I shot at DEAC (Detroit Erotic Arts Collaborative, would been few years ago) around the time I got the E-P3 I also still had my Pentax K-10D, there were some areas of the abandoned wing of the hotel that had no lighting at all, except what city lights could be seen from the broken open window, focusing on the Pentax even with the 50mm f/1.4 lens was impossible as it was too dark, I was however able to boost on my E-P3 and with the help of a flashlight get enough illumination to zoom in and focus on a part (either the eye or the nipple) and then let my speedlight trigger bouncing light off the grey wall to the side.

Basically found that to be a much nicer workflow for me.

That's not to say that a DSLR can't produce good images, they most certainly can especially with the right lens and the right knowledge. It's also just larger and heavier to work with, where as with my E-M5 that just broke, I could pack that plus 5 lens into a little side bag if they're all native lens (adapted lens, other than the Jupiter-11 tend to be larger and longer with the adapters).

Off my Digital Rebel (300D , the first canon digital rebel that came out with a 6.3Megapixel camera). Back in 2005:



And my Pentax K-10D a couple years after that :





But I also used to shoot film around 2005-2010 back when I had a darkroom (and I developed even color transparency I shot myself).

Polaroid 669 off a pack back mounted on a Crown Graphic 4x5 with a Graflex Optar 135mm f/4.7


Kodak Portra 400VC in a Canon EOS-1 with a Canon 50mm f/1.8 (ie: the 'Thrifty-Fifty')


Kodak Tri-X 400 in a Mamiya RB67 with a 90mm f/3.5


And my favorite little SLR (That kind of pushed me to get the digital version), Ilford FP4+ in a 1963 Olympus Pen-FT


Which looks like this before I sold it shortly after the divorce :


And like the current micro-4/3rd cameras, the old Olympus Pen-F SLRs were very adaptable as they had Pentax M42 screwmount adapters, and a few others that you could mount to the body.

[penwash]

Least my old E-P3 doesn't seem to be fussing with either the 45/1.8 or the 12/2.0 (one of the lens I had in the past was erratic with it, I just can't remember which, probably the Panny 20/1.7).

If that holds up it won't be so miserable as I send out the E-M5 to Oly for an evaluation and pray it's not over $200.

12/2.0, that's a neat lens.

I have its grandpa, the Zuiko OM 24mm f/2. Also an awesome lens.

[KBeezie]

Least my old E-P3 doesn't seem to be fussing with either the 45/1.8 or the 12/2.0 (one of the lens I had in the past was erratic with it, I just can't remember which, probably the Panny 20/1.7).

If that holds up it won't be so miserable as I send out the E-M5 to Oly for an evaluation and pray it's not over $200.

12/2.0, that's a neat lens.

I have its grandpa, the Zuiko OM 24mm f/2. Also an awesome lens.

It's probably my favorite lens that usually sits on the camera by default.

[KBeezie]

I was able to sell this :



And went ahead and ordered a used E-M5 with 2400 shutter actuations on it.

That way I will get it hopefully by next week, and when I get around to selling either another pen, prints, lens, or smartphone I'll send the broken one into Olympus for repair (since the quote is $168 for that), in that way I'll have an identical backup, but least I won't be out a body while waiting for the broken one to be serviced.

PS: The reason two is important for me, and why sooner is better, is because I do not want to take on any jobs without a solid backup on hand. (The E-P3 can suffice as a backup, so as long as I don't use the Panny 20 on it).

[myu]

^ Great photo! I love the design of the Pilot MR Rex. It's rather simplistic/minimalist, so the marbled background is a nice contrast. Excellent lighting too.

I used to own an Olympus OM-10. It was a terrific camera for its day. The digital world turned everything upside down. Far more sophisticated programming involved. Very surprised to hear what happened to your E-M5. I would think that such a catastrophic failure would give Olympus good reason to replace the camera.

I'm still lugging around an old Olympus C-8080, which has endured plenty of abuse and still works. But it's tired... and only 8MP. I need to get a new camera and had been toying with going DSLR. Then started to hear about these new mirrorless cameras. I think the C-8080 may have a primitive version of that, because both the viewfinder and back panel displays are direct LED.

The E-M5 looks to be discontinued by Olympus. Does the E-M10 replace it?

[pellidon]

A lot of my camera club friends (myself included) have switched to the Olympus/Panasonic micro 4/3rds system. Most of us have went with either the E-M5 or E-M10 as our primary camera. The only problem to date is one had a strap lug come loose. My back loves the camera system, the bag with all it's toys weighs eight pounds compared to 30 pounds with equivalent lenses in my Nikon bag. Hopefully they can fix it at a low cost. If so, I would consider trading it for the Mark II since yours has had two shutter box issues.

For kicks, I have used my Leica 35mm lens with an adapter. I just wish it were a 35mm angle of view instead of 70. It was my favorite Leica lens. Panasonic makes lenses under Leica's guidelines and uses that knowledge on their own branded lenses. I think they edge out Olympus in the lens department but both are very good lenses.