HELP! Potential Issue with EM1 and/or Panasonic Leica 42.5 mm lens!

[meltedspoonphotography]

I'm not sure where to post this in the forum, but I've got an issue that I'm not sure how to diagnose. I purchased the EM1 back in October, and then the Nocticron 42.5mm lens in April. At first I thought it was just a fluke or just something I was imagining but it's gotten worse. A few weeks ago I was doing a newborn shoot, and I noticed that both the live view screen and the viewfinder were flickering when I was finding a focusing point when the 42.5 lens was on the camera. I noticed it enough that I'm pretty sure it would happen when the camera was tilted down or at a slight angle. I turned the camera off and back on and it didn't do it again. Then yesterday I was shooting and it started doing it again, getting progressively worse. It's almost like a screen flicker of some sort. It's so intermittent that it's hard to figure out whats going on, and it doesn't occur always. Then last night with that lens on, I went to turn it on and play with it a bit, and there was just a black screen, even with the lens hood off. I turned the camera off, reseated the lens, and turned it back on. Everything had gone back to normal. So today I was at a newborn shoot, shooting with the 42.5 and my EM1 and not only did the flicker start happening, but the lens would go black and I couldn't see through the viewfinder anymore. I actually had to turn the camera on and off a few times to get it to respond properly.

So my question is this- does anyone else have issues with this either with the combination or separately? Does anyone have any idea if it's a lens issue or a camera issue? I have done the obvious and put another lens on the camera and it does not do the flickering, however I've noticed that I have to be shooting for at least an hour before it starts to happen. This is very hard to diagnose what is going on. I'd greatly appreciate ANY advice on this matter. I'm a bit discouraged that such new gear is having issues already. Furthermore I'm coming into the busy season with clients, and would need to get my camera or lens fixed asap or use my E5 as a backup.

I will point out that there doesn't appear to be any image issues associated with this. Both the lens and camera are responsive enough to photograph and there isn't any extra blurring or anything like that.

Thanks in advance for your input!
Mollie- Melted Spoon Photography

 

[Growltiger]

I would wipe the electrical contacts, both on the lens and camera, with Deoxit.

 

[wushumr2]

Are you doing it indoors under electric lights?

 

[meltedspoonphotography]

No I'm using only natural light. It's occurring both indoors and outdoors. I went to play with it a bit more this evening, and I switched lenses to my 12-40mm, and it didn't do it, however when I switched back to the 42mm lens it started the flickering again. This makes me think it's the lens, however because it's so infrequent it's really hard to tell.

 

[Replytoken]

Are lens and body firmware up to date?

--Ken

 

[eteless]

There's a switch attached to the pin on the camera flange side of the lens mount that disconnects all electronics so a short doesn't occur when you're taking a lens off, it's activated when you push down the release button to take a lens off.

If the hole that the pin goes into wasn't machined deep enough or the sides of it are sloped at all the pin can be pushed back into the camera by the lens and thus disconnect the electronics. I've had problems before when using worn MMF-3 adapters as the locking holes become elongated with prolonged use, it doesn't need to push the pin in much at all to cause the problem. I've 'solved' it by replacing the adapters every few months before they're worn enough to cause problems. On a related note: If Olympus is listening... I would pay good money for an adapter with the brass bayonet mount of the earlier versions and the weather sealing and plastic body of the later(I prefer the plastic body because in theory it will fail in preference to bending body flange if I were to drop the camera), however I can understand not wanting to make such a product as the current design forces me to constantly buy more new albeit poorly designed adapters resulting in profit for you.

I don't know if that helps at all however given how much trouble I've had with it, it does seem like the most likely thing I can think of.

 

[meltedspoonphotography]

One thing I've noticed now consistently is that after about 2 hours of continuous shooting, it starts having the issue. After several shoots I've timed when I started shooting with the 42.5 mm lens and when it starts acting up. I'm more convinced than ever it is the lens and not the EM1. I'm wondering if it's an electronic over heating issue, since it seems to begin after several hours of continuous use. Anyone else experience this with this lens or another one? I have yet to do the firmware update or clean the contacts as others have suggested. I haven't had time to look at it further. I will do that before contacting Panasonic for a repair solution. It's annoying to say the least. A two month old lens should not have issues already!

 

[T N Args]

Time to try it on another body.

 

[orfeo]

I would suspect the body too...

 

[Growltiger]

Did you try Deoxit as per message 2?

 

[meltedspoonphotography]

I haven't tried deoxit yet, but will do that before I look at repairs. It still does not do it with other lenses, which is why i suspect the lens and not the body. Unfortunately I don't have another micro four thirds body to try it on, but that has been on my mind to purchase one to see if that's a factor.

 

[orfeo]

Olympus could have not beta tested the lens and make a compatible body who knows... Go to a shop and and try it on a body, it could be the lens of course, but its the body lcd screen which is faulty not the lens functions. Lots can go wrong in those computer photo bodies, while a lens well is by a large margin less complicated.

 

[meltedspoonphotography]

Olympus could have not beta tested the lens and make a compatible body who knows... Go to a shop and and try it on a body, it could be the lens of course, but its the body lcd screen which is faulty not the lens functions. Lots can go wrong in those computer photo bodies, while a lens well is by a large margin less complicated.

It's also in the viewfinder, not just the lcd. And it only acts up with about 2 hours of shooting, so a shop try out won't work in my case. If it were a lens issue, what goes wrong with those?

 

[mattia]

Olympus could have not beta tested the lens and make a compatible body who knows... Go to a shop and and try it on a body, it could be the lens of course, but its the body lcd screen which is faulty not the lens functions. Lots can go wrong in those computer photo bodies, while a lens well is by a large margin less complicated.

It's Panasonics responsibility to make the lens adhere to the MFT standard. So if the problem is only there with the lens, I would blame the lens.

 

[meltedspoonphotography]

So after months of inactivity on this thread I think I've come to a reasonable conclusion on the problem. I purchased a second EM1 body and have decided to only use the new body with the 42.5mm lens. After taking it up to a weekend cabin trip- it started acting up slightly after an hour and a half of use and the flickering would occur. Not enough at that point to be intrusive, but just enough to be noticeable. This evening I was doing a portrait session with a client, and after 2 solid hours of shooting (with some breaks) the lens really started acting up- so bad that it completely froze the camera which could not recover even after turning it on and off again. After a minute of frozen screen the camera recovered. This has happened before with another EM1 body and that particular lens. So either I have two EM1 body issues or it's a lens issue. It's also possible its a systematic issue and there are compatibility issues with the EM1 and the 42.5 lens. Any thoughts on this theory?

 

[kbouk]

Go to EM1 menu and change the option flicker to <flicker=off> from auto or 50-60hz and see if the flickering stops, the rattle snaking happens with bright lenses when you move your camera from highlights to shadows and camera adjust exposure and LCD brightness.

 

[Growltiger]

So did you use Deoxit yet on the contacts?

 

[MAubrey]

So after months of inactivity on this thread I think I've come to a reasonable conclusion on the problem. I purchased a second EM1 body and have decided to only use the new body with the 42.5mm lens. After taking it up to a weekend cabin trip- it started acting up slightly after an hour and a half of use and the flickering would occur. Not enough at that point to be intrusive, but just enough to be noticeable. This evening I was doing a portrait session with a client, and after 2 solid hours of shooting (with some breaks) the lens really started acting up- so bad that it completely froze the camera which could not recover even after turning it on and off again. After a minute of frozen screen the camera recovered. This has happened before with another EM1 body and that particular lens. So either I have two EM1 body issues or it's a lens issue. It's also possible its a systematic issue and there are compatibility issues with the EM1 and the 42.5 lens. Any thoughts on this theory?

I doubt it's a systematic issue between the lens and the camera in general, but it is clear that your particular lens is having problems (I'm wondering whether you've tested it on bodies other than the two E-M1's).

Since your lens is still under warranty, I would recommend taking advantage of that warranty right now while you still can.

 

[meltedspoonphotography]

Yes- I did try a contact cleaner, and I've also done firmware updates.

 

[zensu]

If this issue is happening on 2 separate camera bodies with the same symptoms leading up to this "fault" I would send the lens back under warranty. The odds of 2 E-M1s' having the same "fault" would be astronomic.