E-M5/E-P5 - How to keep battery indicator on on LCD?

[cdo221]

Sorry if this is a noob question but I can't find it anywhere in the manual. Is there a way to keep the battery indicator on the LCD?

On both the E-M5 and E-P5 I have, the battery indicator seems to only be on right when I turn on the camera (and then goes away after a few seconds) or if the battery is low. Is there a way to keep the battery indicator on the LCD all the time?

 

[Phocal]

I recently got my E-M5 and was wondering the same thing.

 

[Dch]

Same here let's see if someone figured this out.

 

[chonbhoy]

The only thing i can think of is in the settings set the warning level to the highest then when it flashes to tell you that level has been reached go back in and set it lower in a 1 or 2 lower increment then repeat this until its at the lowest.
I too would like this info at all times, hope they do this in the next firmware update.

 

[lightmonkey]

Same here. And why not implement a % estimate rather than bars???

 

[dhazeghi]

Same here. And why not implement a % estimate rather than bars???

The batteries lack the circuitry to provide those estimates. About all the camera can do is read the voltage, and guess what that means for the charge level. That's also the reason why the battery often takes forever to go from 3 to 2 bars, but drops from 2 to 0 quite quickly.

Canon and Nikon have integrated chips in their batteries for years that can provide detailed measurements, but alas Olympus hasn't gotten around to adding that yet.

 

[chonbhoy]

Shame really, oh well. I just checked and a Canon battery is only £5 more but has this feature and a higher capacity.

 

[mattia]

Shame really, oh well. I just checked and a Canon battery is only £5 more but has this feature and a higher capacity.

Um, they're also twice as large. Physically. Doesn't excuse the lack of a decent chip (Sony does it, for instance) but still.

 

[MarkRyan]

The batteries lack the circuitry to provide those estimates.

Thanks for that explanation. Remaining battery life is a big question mark, and that sucks. I once drove an hour to get a photo, before leaving the battery said it was 2/3 bars, but it died after just a couple of snaps. Frustrating.

 

[stratokaster]

The E-M5 doesn't keep the battery meter on all the time because OLED screens, like plasma panels, are prone to burn-out if they're constantly showing the same thing at the same place. It's the same with Panasonic GH3.

 

[RichardB]

I'm guessing that the battery meter might also put a relatively heavy load on the battery for a short time in order to gauge the remaining charge. In that case, you would not want the meter on for more than a few seconds.

 

[tkc9789]

How do you do a quick check on remaining battery level short of turning the cam off/on?