EM1 Mk2 Firmware Update on M1 Mac Mini

[dannsing]

Hi all - hoping someone has some experience here or can help me figure it out. I have a new mac mini with the M1 chip and I'm trying to update the firmware on my Oly EM1 Mk2 from 2.2 to the latest 3.4. I can connect the camera to the USB and the camera asked for the storage option and I can hit OK there. However, the Olympus software does not seem to detect a camera is connected and provide the firmware update menu. I have tried pulling down the update option from the menu and it says "Please connect your camera to get started" and doesn't move from there.

Anyone try firmware updates on the M1 mac yet? I'm wondering if the software is not compatible yet - I am currently updated to the latest Oly software ver 2.3.3.

Hoping someone can help. Thanks.

 

[fortwodriver]

This came up in the Olympus forum in DPReview with someone who was unable to update their E-M5mkIII on an M1 Mac. It looks like the Olympus software is not yet compatible with the USB interface on the M1 Mac - and it just won't detect the camera. Olympus will have to update their software.

The guy who had issues ended up having to use a Windows laptop to do the update.

Do you have access to a smartphone that can run the OI.Share app? If so, You can update the camera through the app, wirelessly.

 

[John King]

This came up in the Olympus forum in DPReview with someone who was unable to update their E-M5mkIII on an M1 Mac. It looks like the Olympus software is not yet compatible with the USB interface on the M1 Mac - and it just won't detect the camera. Olympus will have to update their software.

The guy who had issues ended up having to use a Windows laptop to do the update.

Do you have access to a smartphone that can run the OI.Share app? If so, You can update the camera through the app, wirelessly.

Or Apple should refrain from making devices and OSes that do not comply with industry standards ...

Just a thought ... .

 

[dannsing]

Thanks fall or the replyies - I was searching on DPreview and didn't find that thread but I was suspecting the Oly software not compatible yet with the M1 mac. I do have access to an older mac but I'm concerned it may not be reliable. I may have to try the OI wireless option. Haven't done it that way before, so not sure about it yet. Thanks!

 

[fortwodriver]

Or Apple should refrain from making devices and OSes that do not comply with industry standards ...

Just a thought ... .

Actually, Apple machines are indeed based on industry standards. Olympus software is based on 20 year old industry standards. Have you already forgotten how quickly Windows 10 obsoleted a whole generation of computers just because they could?

To be fair, the entire Olympus software ecosystem is YEARS behind anything from any of the other photo editors. Who actually thinks that in 2020, making a small change to an image warranted a 15 second "draw" time to apply it?

I hope Olympus is working on it. In the meantime, you can run the OI.Share smartphone app and update wirelessly through it.

 

[fortwodriver]

Thanks fall or the replyies - I was searching on DPreview and didn't find that thread but I was suspecting the Oly software not compatible yet with the M1 mac. I do have access to an older mac but I'm concerned it may not be reliable. I may have to try the OI wireless option. Haven't done it that way before, so not sure about it yet. Thanks!

If you do decide to try OI.Share, first use it to make a backup of all your settings. I'm slightly paranoid because of the pages and pages of settings in Olympus cameras, so being able to make those backups made me certainly feel better about the process.

I know a few people who have successfully done the update over OI.Share. It's slower, and at some points it looks like it's not actually doing anything. As a precaution I'd tap the screen once in a while to keep the phone from sleeping just to be sure.

 

[John King]

Actually, Apple machines are indeed based on industry standards. Olympus software is based on 20 year old industry standards. Have you already forgotten how quickly Windows 10 obsoleted a whole generation of computers just because they could?

To be fair, the entire Olympus software ecosystem is YEARS behind anything from any of the other photo editors. Who actually thinks that in 2020, making a small change to an image warranted a 15 second "draw" time to apply it?

I hope Olympus is working on it. In the meantime, you can run the OI.Share smartphone app and update wirelessly through it.

Frank, industry standards last for longer than the attention span of a newt. The latter is around the time Apple supports its own 'standards'.

BTW, I agree with almost every negative comment that anyone makes about the Olympus computer software, other than two points: 1) the updater works with any complying OS, and 2) it's free.

I do not use it because it does not support wide gamut colour spaces, and it is as slow as Lassie with three broken legs ...

 

[Tapper]

As an alternative, you can update (and downgrade as well) by manually copying the actual firmware file to SD card and following a few simple steps. It's very easy and bypasses some potential pitfalls of the official app method.

See this thread: https://www.mu-43.com/threads/so-you-want-to-update-your-olympus-but-are-nervous-try-this.110167/

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

I prefer the approach of copying the .bin file to an SD card and loading the update directly from the camera. Two devices talking to each other over a cable just doubles the chances for a problem. This is especially true when working with older software or very new software. I doubt Olympus updater works on Linux at all, but downloading a bin and copying it to an SD card will work on virtually any device, even iPhones, Androids, and iPads.

 

[rfortson]

Hi all - hoping someone has some experience here or can help me figure it out. I have a new mac mini with the M1 chip and I'm trying to update the firmware on my Oly EM1 Mk2 from 2.2 to the latest 3.4. I can connect the camera to the USB and the camera asked for the storage option and I can hit OK there. However, the Olympus software does not seem to detect a camera is connected and provide the firmware update menu. I have tried pulling down the update option from the menu and it says "Please connect your camera to get started" and doesn't move from there.

Anyone try firmware updates on the M1 mac yet? I'm wondering if the software is not compatible yet - I am currently updated to the latest Oly software ver 2.3.3.

Hoping someone can help. Thanks.

I'm having the exact same problem with my EM1.2 on a Surface Pro 7 with Windows 10. I can connect to storage and see the camera, but Olympus Workspace doesn't see the camera.

One possible reason on my end is I don't have the Olympus OEM cable. I'm just using a standard USB C cable. (BTW I finally got it updated using the SD card method but I'd like to figure out the connection problem.)

Oh, and reading this thread taught me that I could update via my phone. I had no idea. Thanks for that.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

USB-C can be rather funny. It’s actually been a bit of a mess when it comes to standards (especially those bargain charging cables). Despite being a port connection that has no up or down, sometimes flipping the cable over and reconnecting makes a difference. I have a USB-C to USB-A adapter, and when it won’t work when I plug it in, I simply flip over the USB-C end and try again and it works just fine.

 

[Growltiger]

There are USB-C charging cables and USB-C data cables. Find your original cable or buy a proper one.

 

[Holoholo55]

Or Apple should refrain from making devices and OSes that do not comply with industry standards ...

Just a thought ... .

That's funny, John. If everyone stuck to "industry standard," you'd still be using stone tools to cut raw meat.

 

[John King]

@Holoholo55 Walter, at least there is some semblance of continuity with PCs.

Using Open Office (free ... ), I can still open documents written in the late 1980s/early 1990s with Microsoft Office products and they are properly formatted.

Some of us have a slightly longer attention span than the average newt ... .

I'm not suggesting for a moment that everything should remain forever frozen, however not all 'progress' is necessarily progress ...

 

[speedy]

I prefer the approach of copying the .bin file to an SD card and loading the update directly from the camera. Two devices talking to each other over a cable just doubles the chances for a problem. This is especially true when working with older software or very new software. I doubt Olympus updater works on Linux at all, but downloading a bin and copying it to an SD card will work on virtually any device, even iPhones, Androids, and iPads.

True that. Out of curiosity, the last firmware update I did, I used my Chromebook. Downloaded the file, copied to SD card, popped into the camera. And it worked just fine. Now there's a little bit of hardware that works like a charm. Especially given the very modest hardware it runs on.

 

[dannsing]

Hey all - appreciate all the feedback here. I just updated using the SD card method from the other thread and the linked website. Super easy and quick to do. I definitely recommend that approach. Thanks to all for your help!

 

[fortwodriver]

Using Open Office (free ... ), I can still open documents written in the late 1980s/early 1990s with Microsoft Office products and they are properly formatted.

Some of us have a slightly longer attention span than the average newt ...

Good grief. What is this newt fetish?

How ridiculous do you want to get? I have Olympia ETXII Word-processing files (early Word-Star) which I can open on my mac without any issues. I'm talking files from the late 70s here... Want some daisy-wheel printers?
I can even open up the 45 year old COBOL application we rely on for work and edit it (and redeploy) on my Mac...I can use my mac to work on 50 year old MVS conversions and VTAM products.

The M1 JUST came out - virtually every developer out there (except for Olympus) has warned users not to buy them because they're testing on Rosetta II or not ready to go native. Nobody is making anyone's older machine fail to force the issue.

 

[John King]

Apple no longer support their own proprietary formats.

Most (all?) of what you mention are text files. Even Notepad supports those back to forever.

 

[fortwodriver]

Apple no longer support their own proprietary formats.

Most (all?) of what you mention are text files. Even Notepad supports those back to forever.

That's not true. Rosetta II is a bridge from Intel to M1 and is making it easier for non-M1 chipset apps to run. Some really low-level stuff isn't there because it's easier to show third party software companies how to change their tools. It's a tiny change and Olympus could probably make it happen in a day.

None of this would have been an issue if Intel actually fixed the problems and security flaws their chipsets had. Even Windows 10 has to down-regulate to prevent certain bugs from occurring.

Go ahead and edit a Wordstar '79 file in Notepad... Go ahead. Also, while you're at it try and get my USB Hauppauge MPEG Video encoder to work. It stopped working after Windows XP SP3 - Still works with my Mac.

 

[fortwodriver]

USB-C can be rather funny. It’s actually been a bit of a mess when it comes to standards (especially those bargain charging cables). Despite being a port connection that has no up or down, sometimes flipping the cable over and reconnecting makes a difference. I have a USB-C to USB-A adapter, and when it won’t work when I plug it in, I simply flip over the USB-C end and try again and it works just fine.

Absolutely. I've even had some supposedly reliable USB-C cables fail to make contact. I suspect some aren't following the metallurgy standards, kind-of like early HDMI cables that could only have a certain small number of insertion/removals before their bandwidth would drop significantly, or they would fail outright.

So far I haven't had any issues with the Olympus USB-C cable, but the original funky USB 2.0 cable for the first E-M1 failed on me twice.