My Silver OMD has a noticeable distortion at this picutred location but not looking like a crack. Looks to me like the screw my be over tightened in the plastic bezel, causing the pucker at the outer/thin edge. This might be a countersunk screw head (wedge-shaped below the surface) and loads up the surrounding material as it torques into the hole.

I'll keep and eye on mine to see if it actually becomes a crack in the material.

Mine's cracked as well around the middle screw.

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E-PL2, OM-D, OLY 12-50, Pan 14, Minolta 50/1.4, Hoya 28/2.8 (crap lens. You want it?), Takumar 135/3.5, Yashica 135/2.8, Sigma 28-80 macro, Raynox M250

Never noticed until I read this post. I too have a crack

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Olympus OM-D
14-42mm Kit lens
Olympus 45mm f1.8
Sigma 19mm f2.8 EX DN
Sigma 30mm f2.8 EX DN
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New York City checking in... My OM-D also has the so called "crack" in EXACTLY the same place. Although I was initially disturbed by the discovery, i'm frankly not so sure that the "crack" is an anomaly. It's possible this is an intentional design element of the bezel... Also, the bezel appears to be manufactured of light metal material, no?

All of that said, I find it highly unlikely that so many OM-D cameras from all walks of life are exhibiting the exact same anomaly. If it does actually turn out that this is an issue, there's certainly power in numbers and I'm sure our membership herein would constitute powerful evidence of a manufacturing defect and that Olympus would be compelled to repair / recall all of the cameras affected. Right?!?

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Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst. – Henri Cartier-Bresson


OM-D | E-P3
14 | 20 | 45 | 7-14 | 14-45 | 40-150

Magnesium alloys are prone to sudden onset stress corrosion cracking that will occur after an incubation period where no damage is evident.

so i guess, this is normal? i emailed olympus support see if they think it's a defect or not. I'm not too worried about it anymore since it's a common problem. Hope it's just cosmetic and will not cause any further damage.

It is still a good camera despite of a few flaws. Now, it's time to take great pictures!! =)

Hello,

I have just checked the dpreview forum and I have seen the link to this thread. I am very sad to confirm that my E-M5 is cracked in the exactly same way.

Easily noticeable with reflected light and by touch too. By touch I can bet that there could be a similar crack developing in the other two lateral screws too (but not visible evidence for now).

Less than two months old, light usage, very careful handling (I'm quite a fanatic), rarely unfold the LCD and always with care, placed on tripod only maybe five times max via Manfrotto quick release plate, used the grip maybe four times.

Assuming that initially the crack was not there (I cannot say for sure because I never checked) I think that, if this is happening with my careful habits in so short time, this could happens to everyone at any time.

Frankly my main thought now is that this issue is clearly a "design/manufacture defect".

My crack is little, at the moment, but in the time will grow-up for sure (and I have already seen some pictures of bigger cracks).

Obviously, this crack, growing up, could easily compromise the weather sealing, so it's not a minor or cosmetic-only issue in my opinion.

Very, very disappointed. :(

crack is bad, mmmkay! Anyway, it's a shame to hear that the E-M5 is not a tool. I think it should withstand some abuse without cracking or losing its knobs. I think I'll just wait for the E-P5 before I upgrade.

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Olympus loser
E-P1/ E-P3 & VF-2/ Pinwide/ Samyang 7.5mm 3.5/ 14mm 2.5/ PL 25mm 1.4/ 45mm 1.8/ 40-150mm 4-5.6/ 2 x FL-36r/ FL-20

ok, had me running to grab my em5 and check it out
ive got it on 2 screws, one going toward the screen, one away

i was worried theyd wreck the weather sealingness of the screen, but they are SO fine that by the time water got into them, some other seal would be breached anyways

it does look like the screws were just overtightened, to me, tho

crisis averted.

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Eliot

Any Interest in a TEXAS meetup?

If so, post up here!

Mine has this crack. I've noticed it for a couple months, but just been too lazy to send it in to Olympus. The E-PL3 exhibited this same structural failure. This is why I hate swivel LCD screens. They're a structural weakness. I would've preferred the E-M5 without it.

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Jonathan
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www.jonathanfriolo.com