E-M1's EVF & Sunlight Issue?

OzRay

Mu-43 Hall of Famer
Joined
Jan 29, 2010
Messages
4,991
Location
South Gippsland, Australia
Real Name
Ray, not Oz
No, No, No.

As two others above already said, it seems to be the diopter setting.

A guy in a german oly forum had the issue and as the EVF was broken anyhow, he did some experiments.

No issue with diopter setting = 0.

New green blotches within seconds when the diopter setting was at +6.

Conclusion so far and if the few reports are correct:
those people that use diopter compensation instead of their glasses should be very very careful. Some soconds sun into the EVF are enough ...

Christof

So he was saying that simply by adjusting the dioptre, the issue became worse; pointed at the sun or not? If the latter, it simply doesn't make sense. Also, that doesn't preclude my earlier view that there could have been issues with the EVF from the outset and people are simply experiencing problems as a result. Do we have any statistically relevant results from the first to the latest E-M1s sold ie, numbers affected by this issue. The E-M1 has been the strongest selling Olympus camera since it was introduced and this problem has hardly been of note. I'm certainly going to continue using the dioptre rather than using glasses.
 

fortwodriver

Mu-43 All-Pro
Joined
Nov 15, 2013
Messages
1,393
Location
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Real Name
Frank
3M makes a 90% IR rejection film for the automotive use that transmits visible light with very little loss...for car owners that want cool interiors without loss of night time light transmission.

We should be able to cut an appropriate shape out of such a film and slap it on the eyepiece...

I believe 3M also sells the coating to glass makers for application to glass like anti-static/anti-glare. It's thicker than most coatings but not unworkable.
 
Joined
Aug 13, 2014
Messages
6,648
Location
Honolulu, HI
Real Name
Walter
I was shocked to read about this issue on Gary Ayton's blog (http://www.ayton.id.au)/wp02/?p=7241. Then I found that it was a topic of discussion here. Dunno if anyone else found resolution on this issue, but I emailed Olympus support and they responded.
---
Thank you for contacting Olympus Technical Support.

Yes it is correct that if the Eye Level Viewfinder is exposed to direct strong sunlight it can cause damage to the viewfinder. It seems that it can be exacerbated if the viewfinder diopter is adjusted all the way .

If using the camera outdoor on a tripod where it will be set up for any length of time put something over the eyepiece. If carrying on a neck strap try to keep the lens forward instead of point down.
----

Olympus is well aware of the issue and they confirm that dioptric correction could make it worse. And, it points to a risk if the camera is carried lens down, like it would be on a strap, clip, or sling, especially with a big lens. My Canon DSLR came with a viewfinder cover that was meant to be used for time exposures to prevent stray light from entering via the viewfinder. Seems like something like that would be good to have for our cameras.
 

Latest threads

Top Bottom