Has anyone had an E-P5 dial problem successfully fixed by Olympus?

[alex g]

I didn't use Deoxit on the E-M1 rear dial but an equivalent (?) from WD40 (brand) Contac Cleaner.
Initially it worked great with no skips but then it started to do it occasionally.
Spritzed the sh*t out of it again and it improved it, but not 100%.
I am not sure how the E-M1 relates to the E-P5 but one would think the idea for the wheel should be the same?
Eventually I will send the E-M1 for warranty rear dial replacement...
I have already had warranty wheel replacement on one of my E-P5 and has been no-problem since

I wonder if the warranty is likely to cover user-spritzed dials... I guess you could claim that you were saving Olympus the trouble of fixing it twice for you?

Thanks for the info. I agree that it's not unreasonable to assume that the E-P5 and E-M1 dials share a common design — or alternatively, it's arguably unreasonable to assume that a major manufacturer was capable of coming up with two faulty dial designs, one right after the other. Or... is it?

Oh I forgot to mention, the Deoxit melted through the plastic bits of the camera, caught my house on fire, and prank called my boss at 2:00 in the morning.

Just kidding, everything on the EP5 is solid.

Solid? Like - fused solid? The World's first monolithic camera?

Thanks guys, I now feel reasonably confident about going at it!

 

[Timza]

I bought the smallest DeoxIT® DN5 Mini-Spray for 12.71 on Amazon. My P5 rear wheel and rear "d pad" were skipping more than working. I did not care about warranty or melting parts. I was ready to throw the camera away. I sprayed generously into the gap between the camera body and the 1. front wheel, 2. rear wheel, and 3. rear "d pad". I did each separately. After each spray I spent a long time working the wheels and pad. The situation has improved. Before, the "d pad" would not work at all for several presses in a row. And the rear wheel would not work more than it would work. Now the "d pad" works with no problems and the rear wheel skips once every four to six clicks, but only misses one click, not two or more in a row like it used to.

No melting at all. No changes to the surfaces of the camera body or wheels at all from the DeoxIT fluid.

 

[Zancrow]

Well, now I'm worried about the dial on my e-p5 failing. Is that a common thing like the rear wheel failing on the e-m1?

 

[Timza]

I of course don't know how many owners experience the problem, but there are a few threads about it on different forums. And it appears to be common for people who do have this problem to send P5's to the factory for repair and then later experience the same problem with what ever part the factory replaced. It appears that the factory has not re-designed whatever part fails. Thus this thread.

I love a lot about my P5. But wish it did not have this issue.

 

[RichardB]

Well, now I'm worried about the dial on my e-p5 failing. Is that a common thing like the rear wheel failing on the e-m1?

My E-P5 has a rear wheel that sometimes misses clicks. I have an E-M5 with similar issues on a control wheel. It's inexcusable.

 

[mossie]

Thanks for the great tips, folks. I got a small bottle of Deoxit D5 from Amazon, too, and the rear wheel on e-p5 is working again. Woot!

 

[alex g]

I too can confirm that a quick squirt of Deoxit into the gap on either side of our E-P5 dials followed by a few minutes of vigorous operation and a couple of hours of drying time has improved the situation significantly.

 

[jamespetts]

I have an E-P5 whose front dial (exposure compensation) sometimes fails to register a single turn. I bought a small can of Deoxit DN5, and, with the battery removed, sprayed it into the top, bottom and side of the dial and turned it numerous times, and then waited a few minutes for it to dry. Testing it unfortunately reveals no improvement, even after the second attempt: indeed, the dial seems now stiff as if the Deoxit has removed all the lubricant (I have ordered some Deoxit branded lubricant to remedy that).

May I ask whether there is any particular technique to using this spray effectively that I might be missing?

 

[alex g]

Unfortunately, the improvement I reported in my earlier post didn't last too long, and the problem returned. I don't know what other peoples' experiences have been down the line. I also noticed the slight stiffening of the dial that you describe. I suspect that such an approach (spraying blindly through a narrow opening in the camera case) is going to be fairly hit-or-miss at the best of times.

There are a few teardown descriptions online for other Olympus bodies, but I haven't found one for the E-P5. Here are two for reference, though I can't personally vouch for them!

 

[jamespetts]

It looks as though I shall have to send the camera to Olympus for repair, in that case. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

 

[retiredfromlife]

Olympus fixed mine under warranty. No idea if they just cleaned it or replaced the rear dial. It skipped from brand new, just got worse over time.
Couple of months later started again. I have not tried the Deoxit yet as I have put the camera aside as a spare now.

Mainly using the newer G85 at this time.

 

[jamespetts]

Interesting - may I ask when you had yours fixed? I had my E-M1 fixed last year (2016), and that has worked fine ever since. I wonder whether the later repairs address the underlying problem rather than just replacing the part with a new one that will in time show the same fault?

 

[retiredfromlife]

Interesting - may I ask when you had yours fixed? I had my E-M1 fixed last year (2016), and that has worked fine ever since. I wonder whether the later repairs address the underlying problem rather than just replacing the part with a new one that will in time show the same fault?

Had mine repaired February this year. Just checked the repair docket and it indicates they replaced "mode dials" only rear one was skipping.

One thing I noticed on the comments on the repair docket was "slight wear on tripod mount." I hardly used the screw mount as I kept a RC2 quick release plate on it. But I have noticed they seem to be using a soft metal for the insert compared to the inserts used on the old film cameras. I now keep small cheese plates [small rig] on the bottom and screw tripods and flash plates onto that to save the thread inserts.

Considering I purchased mine new after the model was discontinued I doubt they fixed the original problem just kept fixing the problem cheaper that way I guess. But Olympus have a good name for repairing cameras.

 

[SVQuant]

My E-M1 started showing signs of the dial issue a couple of months ago. The De-oxit fix worked for a bit, but the problem seems to be coming back. Does anyone know if the repair is covered under warranty as a known issue by Olympus America or does one have to pay to get it fixed? The camera was purchased about 16 months ago, so it is definitely out of the 1-yr warranty period.

 

[SVQuant]

Just to update this thread in case anyone else has the same issue. Olympus USA fixed my E-M1 under warranty even though the camera was more than 4 months past its 1-yr warranty period. The repair ticket said:

REPLACED REAR MODE DIAL AND REPAIRED STRAP LUGS. Checked and adjusted all camera functions. Installed latest firmware.
​

Which of course means that all my settings are lost. But overall, I am quite pleased with Olympus's taking care of this issue in a reasonable way.

 

[retiredfromlife]

Been using my E-P5 the last few weeks and it has only skipped a click twice. Not like before when it skipped multlple clicks regularly. This may be normal not sure, but happy with the repair overall.
The good news is that from what I have seen in the forums is that the current Olympic boddies do not seem to be suffering from the problem