E-M1X Compass Problem

[DustyGeorge]

I have only had my E-M1X for five days so this may be an operator error problem. The compass on my field sensor data display has no needle (see attached photo). I have tried the bit about moving the camera through a figure 8 pattern. I have upgraded the firmware from 1.0 to 1.3. Any suggestions?

George

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[Mountain_Man_79]

Wait. My E-M1X has a compass?!

brb

 

[Mountain_Man_79]

I can’t even figure out how you got to that screen...

I know I have my GPS set to record to my photos, and when I continually tap ’info’ I can see my coordinates and temperature and elevation, etc...but I can’t find the compass or that screen.

 

[DustyGeorge]

I can’t even figure out how you got to that screen...

I know I have my GPS set to record to my photos, and when I continually tap ’info’ I can see my coordinates and temperature and elevation, etc...but I can’t find the compass or that screen.

Gear menu > D1 > Info Settings > LV OFF info > Field Sensor Info. Then when when you have the SCP on the monitor the INFO button will toggle this display. If you set it up let me know if your compass has a needle.

 

[davsv1]

I have only had my E-M1X for five days so this may be an operator error problem. The compass on my field sensor data display has no needle (see attached photo). I have tried the bit about moving the camera through a figure 8 pattern. I have upgraded the firmware from 1.0 to 1.3. Any suggestions?

George
View attachment 860756

Mine def has a needle...orange and white

Dave

 

[Mountain_Man_79]

Gear menu > D1 > Info Settings > LV OFF info > Field Sensor Info. Then when when you have the SCP on the monitor the INFO button will toggle this display. If you set it up let me know if your compass has a needle.

Hmm. Thanks for the reply, but I don’t use the SCP, and have it shut off on all my cameras. So at the moment I can’t recall how to even access that/turn it on to check. But as it seems Daves has a needle, I’m probably going to give up.

 

[Growltiger]

That type of compass sensor often doesn't work well.
Do you have anything magnetic anywhere near it? A magnetic clasp to a bag or case or phone?
Are you trying to use it in a vehicle?
Have you tried walking along with it, outdoors, and then doing the figure of 8?

 

[DustyGeorge]

That type of compass sensor often doesn't work well.
Do you have anything magnetic anywhere near it? A magnetic clasp to a bag or case or phone?
Are you trying to use it in a vehicle?
Have you tried walking along with it, outdoors, and then doing the figure of 8?

Yes. I tried the figure 8 calibration routine in the back yard several times.

 

[Alberta Dave]

Thank you @DustyGeorge, I have learnt something there, that my camera has a compass. I have checked mine and my good lady's cameras and both of them have an orange and white pointer on the compass. Both are running 1.3 firmware and we've only had them for a few days so far, so much to learn LOL.

 

[DustyGeorge]

Thank you @DustyGeorge, I have learnt something there, that my camera has a compass. I have checked mine and my good lady's cameras and both of them have an orange and white pointer on the compass. Both are running 1.3 firmware and we've only had them for a few days so far, so much to learn LOL.

Thanks for the feedback. Good luck with your cameras. They are great kit even if they have a steep learning curve.

 

[Sujiar]

Gear menu > D1 > Info Settings > LV OFF info > Field Sensor Info. Then when when you have the SCP on the monitor the INFO button will toggle this display. If you set it up let me know if your compass has a needle.

I cannot access that screen! I only get a 2x line that has a tiny compass (with orange/white needle), co-ordinates,temp, elevation and pressure...

 

[DustyGeorge]

I cannot access that screen! I only get a 2x line that has a tiny compass (with orange/white needle), co-ordinates,temp, elevation and pressure...

I can't check this now since my E-M1X is on its way back to B&H. I believe what you are describing is the Field Sensor Data display on the LV display. You need to turn off the LV display by pressing OK to bring up the SCP display. Then press the INFO button to toggle the display. BTW thanks for the description of what you see. When I saw those two lines there was no little compass.

 

[Mack]

Gear menu > D1 > Info Settings > LV OFF info > Field Sensor Info. Then when when you have the SCP on the monitor the INFO button will toggle this display. If you set it up let me know if your compass has a needle.

hmmm...

I cannot find the compass either. However, I just installed version 2.0, the "Bird AI" firmware, so maybe they removed it?

 

[Phocal]

I cannot access that screen! I only get a 2x line that has a tiny compass (with orange/white needle), co-ordinates,temp, elevation and pressure...

hmmm...

I don’t see it either. I see the same as Sujiar
I cannot find the compass either. However, I just installed version 2.0, the "Bird AI" firmware, so maybe they removed it?

 

[Mack]

I managed to find it in the Gear > I > Info Settings > and checking the Field Sensor Info box there which was unchecked. Seems it will show hitting Info button along with Date, Time, GPS location, Temp., Altitude, and Atmosphric pressure in hPa. So now that I got it on, it seems stuck and no arrow or rotation at all.

However, I got a very bad feeling that my Really Right Stuff L-plate magnetic holder for the hex wrench in the base might be causing the issue with the camera's magnetic sensor. There's two strong magnets molded into that base plate. I have a wrist strap attached to the L-plate and it is sewn on to keep it from loosening up so I may have to break that part off to remove the L-plate and see if it is affecting the compass. I wouldn't be surprised if those magnets may have permanently damaged the sensor by magnetizing something in the body. Oh well, never knew about it so no big loss if I never use it.

Fwiw, I see Really Right Stuff no longer shows the L-plate - or any plate - for the E-M1X on their website. I sent them an email to ask why and will be curious as to if this has damaged my camera's compass. I purchased it direct from them April 2019 when they first released it. B&H Photo still shows stock. I think there are other magnetic variants out there too so beware.

There's also some feedback on the E-M1X compass here: https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/62428282

 

[Growltiger]

However, I got a very bad feeling that my Really Right Stuff L-plate magnetic holder for the hex wrench in the base might be causing the issue with the camera's magnetic sensor.

Yes. The weak magnetic field of the planet doesn't have a hope against a strong magnet nearby, even the magnetic field of being in a car can be too much. Most of us nowadays have more magnets around than we realise.

 

[Ranger Rick]

Having spoken with Olympus USA about this, it sounds like they are aware of this issue and it is not uncommon. We managed to get to the point where I had the compass rose showing, but not the needle. They were hoping v2 would fix this- apparently not.
Does anyone know exactly what the Compass feature does? Does it somehow provide EXIF/IPTC data showing which direction the camera was facing for the image? I would hope no one would be using it for backcountry navigation Perhaps this "feature" is one which doesn't offer much real utility, with Lat/Long and Elevation available? Other than "they advertised it, so it should work"?
The Manual does say: "there is no guarantee the measured values...are accurate"- it appears THAT is very accurate!

 

[Mack]

Ranger Rick, thanks for the feedback on the compass.

Page 574 shows a couple of photos with item #3 as the Heading and how it should look both in the viewfinder and the LCD screen. I see no heading icon to the left of the Location data (longitude/latitude) or item #7. I do get the compass rose but no arrow within it.

It could be a bug as I would expect to see a stuck compass needle even with a magnet nearby, but I got nothing showing at all other than the compass rose. Odd some have the compass working right and others not though. Maybe some odd programming errors in the menu keeping the arrow it off.

Still curious as to what Really Right Stuff will say about discontinuing their magnetic L-plate for this camera and if this is why.

And yeah, some of the accuracy of the camera items like temp and altitude could be better, but my phone and smartwatch aren't any better and often altitude is 100 feet off daily. With a couple of my drones, the things will take off at the correct altitude, yet end up showing as landing underground (A negative altitude displayed on same takeoff spot , e.g. -50 feet.). Sensor drift perhaps, and they use both GPS and barometric data and still cannot come up with an accurate landing altitude. During calibration of the drones, I've had steel rebar in concrete mess with the compass calibration and they warn of that. Dunno.

 

[Ranger Rick]

Thanks, Mack! It sounds like the current state of the art is "kind-of-iffy". The Lat/Long data is helpful, and seems to work OK (but I have managed fine using an iPhone app and adding via LR). Altitude is perhaps interesting, but easy to figure out from Lat/Long if needed.

At this point, I think I'll just forget about Compass and somehow manage to make images without it

 

[Mack]

Thanks, Mack! It sounds like the current state of the art is "kind-of-iffy". The Lat/Long data is helpful, and seems to work OK (but I have managed fine using an iPhone app and adding via LR). Altitude is perhaps interesting, but easy to figure out from Lat/Long if needed.

At this point, I think I'll just forget about Compass and somehow manage to make images without it

I did get a boilerplate response back from DISTec (The Olympus USA email tech support.) so seems they still are around for the month.

"Some of the Settings May have be reset during the Update.
Please Look at the following settings.
Under the Custom D1 menu go into the Submenu Info Settings
Then go into LV-Info as well as LV OFF-Info and make sure that the Field Sensor Info box is Checked.
If you require additional assistance, please reply to this email leaving the complete history intact."

Been there, as well as the L> Info> Field Sensor also checked in the menu. No joy. No compass needle, just the rose with nothing in the middle.

So I did respond with a photo of the blank compass rose. Odd why it works for some, and others it doesn't. Has to be some menu setting issue, or a hardware issue.

I'll wait and see if they respond.

Aside, I haven't heard a peep out of RRS as to the magnets or why their E-M1X L-plate was discontinued. Could be since Oly retired, they may stop making plates for them. Given the recent surge to buy the cheaper E-M1X, it seems odd to me unless this is the last production run of that camera and remaining stock is it.

Added later:

Heard back from DISTec (Olympus USA Service) Friday afternoon. They want me to call them Monday. Seems the camera they have with the upgrade does show the compass arrows and heading, but mine doesn't. They think it is some menu matter someplace even though I have all the sundry Field Sensors checked ON. We'll see...