Can't update firmware on my em5iii

[Quadna71]

All my earlier tries were on Windows machines and they didn’t work but my last try was on my wife’s Apple with the OEM cable it worked first try. So I guess I don’t know if the computer was the fix or the cable. But hey I know where I will be doing any future firmware updates now. In the past I did them on my MacBook (em1ii and em10ii) but I have since gotten rid of that and just have an iPad.

 

[RichardC]

FWIW, I tried non-Olympus cables with my EM1-1 and quickly found it didn't work.

Some research at the time revealed that some USB cables were for charging, others were for charging and data. Some cables have printing on them which indicates the type of cables inside the shielding.

 

[Glawsder]

Last year I tried updating on windows and it failed because it needed 2 consecutive drive numbers. I have an external drive, which takes E: The computer tried to mount on D: and F: for the update. I connected the camera, reset the camera drive from D to J and the upgrade proceeded smoothly using J and K

 

[Michael Meissner]

The connector they were using until recently is a bit of a freak, but I suspect that if they hadn't used it, they would have left remote shutter release ports off of the smaller cameras altogether, so... I guess it was justified? But yeah, you ain't missin' a thing.

The recent Olympus cameras (E-m1x, E-m1 mark II/III, E-m5 mark III, E-m10 mark III, TG-5, TG-6, E-PL10, maybe E-PL9) have all used standard USB cables. All of the cameras except for the E-m1x and E-m1 mark III use the older USB micro-USB cable. The E-m1x and E-m1 mark III use the newer USB-C cable. I don't recall if the E-m1 mark II used USB-C or micro USB-B.

IIRC, the 12-pin cable was introduced with the E-500 DSLR, though at the time the cable was released, the shutter release was not yet a part of the design. A later camera (E-400) introduced the shutter release support, using 3 pins that previously were not used.

The E-m5 mark III, E-m1 mark II/III, E-m1x all have a new 2.5mm port for the shutter release cable. The pinout on the cable is the same as used in several Canon cameras. The lower end cameras do not have a shutter release port. If/when the E-m10 mark IV comes out, it will be interesting to see if it has a shutter release port (the E-m10 mark III does not have a shutter release port, and that is one of several reasons I would never buy an E-m10 mark III).

The other thing provided by the old 12-pin cable was analog video/sound output, which is not supported any more. But you should be able to use the HDMI output on all recent cameras.

For a few years, there were combined video and shutter release devices that used the 12 pin plug and allowed you to be physically distant from the camera. Now, you can achieve the same remote view/shutter release using the smartphone app.

 

[John King]

Michael, the E-M1 MkII uses USB-C. Just FYI. @Michael Meissner

 

[Michael Meissner]

Michael, the E-M1 MkII uses USB-C. Just FYI. @Michael Meissner

Thanks for the update.

 

[JayDC]

I'm having the same trouble w/ my EM5-MkIII, which currently has firmware version 1.0 installed. I've tried several micro USB cables (I've probably mixed up or misplaced the one that came w/ the camera), to no avail (Win10 Pro OS). I tried the SD card flash method, using the .bin I found here:

http://dl01.olympus-imaging.com/OLYMPUS_MASTER/FIRMWARES/0001/1370/OLY_E_137_1200_0000_0000.BIN

But, instead of updating the firmware the camera simply turns on, as usual. Any updates on how to deal with this would be appreciated!

 

[Growltiger]

Did you try with install and run Olympus Workspace, then update the software, then update the camera? Did you press OK on the camera to select Storage?

 

[Michael Meissner]

I haven't tried this yet on the E-m5 mark III (I have used the method for other cameras), but there has been a backdoor method to update the camera firmware without using the update tool that has been documented at:

• https://lightsnowdev.com/Olympus/

I've complained in the past that lightsnowdev did not add the E-m5 mark III to its list of saved firmware. I can't find the thread where somebody mentioned (either here or at dpreview) how to do a similar update for the E-m5 mark III by changing model numbers.

The E-m5 mark III firmware is at:

• Version 1.1: http://dl01.olympus-imaging.com/OLYMPUS_MASTER/FIRMWARES/0001/1370/OLY_E_137_1100_0000_0000.BIN
• Version 1.2: http://dl01.olympus-imaging.com/OLYMPUS_MASTER/FIRMWARES/0001/1370/OLY_E_137_1200_0000_0000.BIN

The directions from lightsnowdev modified for the E-m5 mark III would be:

• Create a folder called "DCOLYMP" on your SD card.
• Rename the downloaded file to E1379999.BIN and put it inside this folder.
• The whole process will take a about 1-2 minutes.
• Make sure your camera is turned off.
• Now insert the SD Card with the firmware file.
• Start the camera while pushing the "OK" button.
• The screen will be black and the orange front LED will turn on.
• DO NOT TURN THE CAMERA OFF WHILE THE LED IS ON.
• Wait until it blinks rapidly. This means the process is finished.
• You can now restart the camera like you would do normally.
• You may want to remove the "DCOLYMP" folder from your SD card, so you don't flash a new firmware by accident.

One thing that isn't mentioned, but should be obvious, make sure your batteries are fully charged. I've noticed that Panasonic cameras will complain if the batteries aren't fully charged when you do the update, but Olympus doesn't seem to do that. I have seen a number of posts over the years where somebody was updating their cameras and the batteries went dead as they were updating their camera, and they had to send it into Olympus to reinstall the firmware.

I would be interested to know whether this in fact works, as I would like to update my E-m5 mark III to version 1.2, and using my wife's Windows system to do the update is a hassle.

BTW, I went to the Olympus firmware page and went to the E-m1 mark III update and saw that the model number for E-m1 mark III is evidently 139 (E-m5 mark III is 137). I did verify that I could download the v1.1 firmware:

• Version 1.1: http://dl01.olympus-imaging.com/OLYMPUS_MASTER/FIRMWARES/0001/1390/OLY_E_139_1100_0000_0000.BIN

I would imagine if you change the 137's to 139's in the above instructions it would allow you to update the E-m1 mark III firmware without using the upload tool.

<edit March 11th, 2022>
New firmware is at:

• Olympus E-m5 mark III firmware v1.6 (camera model # is 137)
• Olympus E-m1 mark III firmware v1.4 (camera model # is 139)
• Olympus E-m1 mark II firmware v3.5 (camera model # is 125)
• Olympus E-m1x firmware v2.2 (camera model is #134)

 

[pake]

BTW, does the upgrade reset all the camera settings on E-M5III?

 

[Michael Meissner]

FWIW, the procedure I mentioned 2 posts above does seem to update the firmware on the E-m5 mark III to version 1.2.

 

[Sinalek]

I was able to update mine in my old hp notebook with windows 7 and 8Gb ram

Before to download WS and try I contacted Oly support to ask if it would be possible to do with win7 and they told me not: "only supported operative systems". So I thought I wouldn't even open WS. But I tried and everything worked like a charm.

By the way, I did it with the original cable.

In case it helps someone.

 

[Phocal]

Is the computer connected to the internet?

 

[Sinalek]

Is the computer connected to the internet?

Yes, it must be I think, in order "workspace" can check if there are updates for your bodie/lens and download the files needed.

 

[John King]

I was able to update mine in my old hp notebook with windows 7 and 8Gb ram

Before to download WS and try I contacted Oly support to ask if it would be possible to do with win7 and they told me not: "only supported operative systems". So I thought I wouldn't even open WS. But I tried and everything worked like a charm.

By the way, I did it with the original cable.

In case it helps someone.

Apparently OWS requires the 64 bit version of Windows 7.

I have no problem updating my gear using W7 Pro 64 bit.

 

[FrayAdjacent]

BTW, does the upgrade reset all the camera settings on E-M5III?

I just updated mine earlier, along with the 12-100 f/4 I recently got. It did not reset my settings.

I used a USB C to microUSB cable. It worked fine.

 

[Sinalek]

It did not reset my settings.

It did reset mine. I don´t remember if it was a total reset or only some settings.

 

[FrayAdjacent]

The previous version reset my settings... perhaps if you went from (I think the original) 1.0 to the latest 1.2, that may be why? (1.0 to 1.1 reset all my stuff, but 1.1 to 1.2 did not).

I did notice that I could not back up my settings via the app before doing the update.

 

[comment23]

I did notice that I could not back up my settings via the app before doing the update.

For some inexplicable reason that’s unfortunately normal/intentional behaviour for the E-M5 Mark III, both during updates or at any other time. Have to hope that changes with a future firmware revision.

 

[John King]

For some inexplicable reason that’s unfortunately normal/intentional behaviour for the E-M5 Mark III, both during updates or at any other time. Have to hope that changes with a future firmware revision.

Simon, sometimes the firmware upgrade will lead to incompatibility with old settings. This necessitates discarding previous settings if the old settings cannot be remapped to the new firmware.