E-M1 strap lug fell off

[John King]

My E-M1 MkI had the dreaded rear wheel failure.

While that was being repaired under warranty, Olympus Oz also checked the strap lugs and cleaned the pre-installed gunge off the sensor.

Total cost was the shipping to them. Under Australian consumer law, I could have asked for reimbursement of that, but didn't bother.

 

[fortwodriver]

From what I can recall from the comments, Olympus' own warranty service just repairs the lugs, but aren't fixing the design flaw, thus some people received their repaired E-M1s back just to catch it again due to fallen off lugs.

Was Olympus actually fixing these at their own depots, or were they dispatching them to third-parties by the time the E-M1 came out?

When I got mine done, they did the exact same thing that independent repair shop did - repair, replace, and loctite BOTH strap lugs, even though only one failed.

 

[previz]

I repaired mine based on this instructions: https://witonosfreestyle.wordpress.com/2016/11/17/olympus-e-m1-rear-dial-repair-tips/

 

[doady]

Yikes. I used C-7070 for 15 years, no problem other than slight crack of LCD panel. I didn't realize Olympus quality and reliability had declined so much since then, even for bodies they advertise as rugged and weather sealed. I was hoping to use E-M1 II for 10+ years as well and spend on new lenses. Because spending on new bodies is a waste, right? Hopefully, E-M1 II will not have these kind of issues...

 

[Ghostbuggy]

Was Olympus actually fixing these at their own depots, or were they dispatching them to third-parties by the time the E-M1 came out?

I can't remember to be honest, it's been years ago and mostly the blog post from the repair shop stuck in my head, as well as reports of repeated fell-offs after Olympus repaired the effected cameras. Maybe it's also different from country to country or they changed the way they were doing those repairs.
It also doesn't seem to be a given fate for every original E-M1, some people have been using their cameras for years and years, without ever encountering loosened lugs.

I was hoping to use E-M1 II for 10+ years as well and spend on new lenses. Because spending on new bodies is a waste, right? Hopefully, E-M1 II will not have these kind of issues...

I have never read such issues from later models, in fact pretty much all later models seem to be very reliable. The last "issue" were some reported tripod sockets broken off on a few E-M5 Mark III bodies, however it doesn't seem to be widespread. And of course the design flaw for the Pen-F eye-sensor, which pretty much gets useless in very bright (sunlight) environments. But besides there only seem to be occasional issues which happen to all cameras, electronics or gear from all brands.

 

[Mack]

Bought a used E-M1, actually three, off Lifepixel that was converted to full spectrum.

First one out of the box and I couldn't change shutter speeds. Looked online and found dpreview had a long thread about the rear dial issue. Made a call to them, and they issued a pre-paid UPS label so back it went. Had it for about an hour in total.

Second one showed up a month later. Looked very used but hopefully it would work. It too failed in first 15 minutes of operation of the rear dial. Worked better in one direction than the other, aside from skipping. Another call made and another pre-paid shipping label. Maybe another hour of ownership. Did find a lot of threads about the strap lug being suspect to falling off so I informed them of that matter too.

Another month later the third body shows up and it looks very new and better than the first two. Even had the two extra plastic pieces for the hot shoe (The generic hotshoe slide-off cover and the one that covers that connection port on the back of the shoe for maybe some special flash. Least the dial is working and the lugs appear tight.

However, the third is not without the occasional lock-up problem that sometimes requires taking out the battery to get it to work. Doing that also seems to change the shutter speeds to some default setting. Maybe due to the SD Lexar card as I found the one I was using was slow to write. It takes about 12-15 seconds for it to write a three shot +/-0.7 EV bracketed series. Another (faster?) SD card takes about 2-4 seconds so the card might be an issue for some freeze-ups. I should buy a faster UHS-I card, maybe >170 speed over a 95 speed card.

I'll keep the third one as it looks very clean and is working well enough that I can live with its occasional lock-ups. Hopefully during the first round of two bad ones and my communication with them they added Locktite or something to the strap lugs. A fourth converted E-M1 from them would likely be a money loser and another month without a camera. Definitely was a learning experience of this model.

Reason I stayed with this model was I wanted the AF tuning capability in case the IR portion had disagreements with my lenses. My E-M1 II and E-M1X both have differing settings on the AF tuning so this was my plan for this third one (Actually fourth as I have a Pen-F too but one cannot adjust it.).

 

[Ross the fiddler]

I can't remember to be honest, it's been years ago and mostly the blog post from the repair shop stuck in my head, as well as reports of repeated fell-offs after Olympus repaired the effected cameras. Maybe it's also different from country to country or they changed the way they were doing those repairs.
It also doesn't seem to be a given fate for every original E-M1, some people have been using their cameras for years and years, without ever encountering loosened lugs.


I have never read such issues from later models, in fact pretty much all later models seem to be very reliable. The last "issue" were some reported tripod sockets broken off on a few E-M5 Mark III bodies, however it doesn't seem to be widespread. And of course the design flaw for the Pen-F eye-sensor, which pretty much gets useless in very bright (sunlight) environments. But besides there only seem to be occasional issues which happen to all cameras, electronics or gear from all brands.

That's right. My E-M1 I is still going strong without those faults. My E-M1 II has been great with no faults at all too.

 

[John King]

Yikes. I used C-7070 for 15 years, no problem other than slight crack of LCD panel. I didn't realize Olympus quality and reliability had declined so much since then, even for bodies they advertise as rugged and weather sealed. I was hoping to use E-M1 II for 10+ years as well and spend on new lenses. Because spending on new bodies is a waste, right? Hopefully, E-M1 II will not have these kind of issues...

Doady, the E-M1 MkI is the only body known to have these kinds of design flaws.

Of course, cameras can break or be broken, but there were three specific, very common flaws with the E-M1 MkI:

1. Strap lugs;
2. EVF 'burns' from high dioptre settings and direct exposure to the sun; and
3. The rear wheel gradually failing.

After my rear wheel repair, and other things checked, I have not had a problem of any kind in six+ years with my E-M1 MkI.

I have never had any other problem with any of my ten Olympus bodies, or any other Olympus gear over more than 50 years.

My E-M1 MkII has been flawless since I bought it at release here, and I have not heard of a single systemic fault with it.