This could be goodbye olympus.

[DHart]

My Pen-F and E-P5 see such infrequent and light use that they're not likely to exhibit any of these control failings.

It certainly seems that Panasonic cameras are built to a higher standard of reliability.

My GX8 is my main body these days and it feels like it will last forever. Big fan of Panasonic cameras, though I do enjoy having the Pen-F. My E-P5 is strictly a camera-room (studio) dedicated body and doesn't get much use as I don't shoot in the camer room much these days.

 

[medroller]

Don't get wrong here. I'm not having a whinge, I'm posting up as a matter of conversation. Overall I'm happy with Olympus and m4/3 format, so the only other brand I would go to is panny. It would cost a lot to go to another format eg. fuji, canon.

 

[retiredfromlife]

I find the Vietnam made Olympus bodies to be more reliable. I think they have higher QC there due to also making medical equipment in the same facility. The cameras coming out of China had more issues from my experience.

How do you tell what bodies come from Vietnam ? If you were to use that as a purchasing criteria

 

[Jonathan F/2]

How do you tell what bodies come from Vietnam ? If you were to use that as a purchasing criteria

E-M5 mk.I, E-M1 mk.I, E-M10 mk.I, E-P5 and most if not all the Pen/Pen Lite cameras were all made in China. I literally had issues with my E-M5 mk.I, E-P5, all my E-PM1/2 and E-PL3/5 bodies. My E-M5 mk.II has been flawless and it seems the E-M10 mk.II (also Vietnam made), has very little user issues.

It's all speculation of course!

 

[T N Args]

How do you tell what bodies come from Vietnam ? If you were to use that as a purchasing criteria

Read the base plate

 

[DHart]

Don't get wrong here. I'm not having a whinge, I'm posting up as a matter of conversation. Overall I'm happy with Olympus and m4/3 format, so the only other brand I would go to is panny. It would cost a lot to go to another format eg. fuji, canon.

Pany offers a fantastic line up of m4/3 bodies and lenses! Great quality and great performance.

 

[RamblinR]

I had to return my first EM1 due to back dial not working properly had to send it back again upon its return as they had not fixed it. When I got it back the second time it was perfect and has been fine every since. My second EM1 is now doing the same thing so I will be sending it in for repair as it drives my nuts.

Due to the high cost of the new EM1 II I think I'll give Panasonic a run. I want the new camera mainly for video and the new G85 looks great and now has IBIS. I currently have 6 panasonic lenses, 4 Olympus and 1 samyang so I'm good to go with either brand. I can buy nearly 3 cameras for the price of one which is insane and they currently have a free 25 f1.8 lens to go with the purchase. Happy to stay with my current EM1's for stills. Hmmmmmm

 

[Phocal]

Goodbye, enjoy your new system.

 

[D7k1]

I shot maybe 10k images on my EP5 mostly in the SW in harsh conditions and never had a problem. My Gx8s are also doing well. Don't know what the failure rate is but I bet it is lower than is thought on these forums.

 

[GBarrington]

The e-m10, e-m1, and just bought the e-p5. I've had trouble with every camera And two lenses. Olympus has always fixed them, but I have to send them to olympus and the turn around usually takes 5 to 6 weeks. Most of us only do this as a hobby and it's only a camera , but the cost of postage and down time is annouying. I was going to go back to canon or have a look at fuji. Maybe it's time to head back into film with my old reliable chinons and ricohs.

PLEASE PEOPLE! Just stop telling us what you are 'going to do', and just shut up and DO IT! Vote with your wallet! That's the ONLY thing that the manufacturers pay attention to! We neither have any influence or much interest in what you are 'going to do!'

 

[Phocal]

I shot maybe 10k images on my EP5 mostly in the SW in harsh conditions and never had a problem. My Gx8s are also doing well. Don't know what the failure rate is but I bet it is lower than is thought on these forums.

As I have said more times then I can count......... you can't make any kind of determination based on what is said in this forum or even combining every forum you can find that has people posting about failures. There is no and I mean absolutely zero scientific validity in determining any kind of failure rate (actually any thing) from a non random selection. To make a true scientific comparison you need a completely random selection from the total population.......something you can't get from a forum.

 

[D7k1]

As I have said more times then I can count......... you can't make any kind of determination based on what is said in this forum or even combining every forum you can find that has people posting about failures. There is no and I mean absolutely zero scientific validity in determining any kind of failure rate (actually any thing) from a non random selection. To make a true scientific comparison you need a completely random selection from the total population.......something you can't get from a forum.

Having taught a few MBA statistic courses, IMHO people are who participate in these forums are probably far to the right on the bell curve when it comes to being demanding of the performance of our gear (probably the same in every hobby) over the average Joe/Jill. Our wants and needs drive a desire for "more is better" and in a shrinking market and the manufacturers may even start to look seriously what is said on forums with costs rising if they don't already. It is a key reaction for people to display dissatisfaction when a product fails, in the old days the "a happy customer tells one, an unhappy one tells 10" is now magnified by a factor of a 1000 or more. And thus you have the old "feeling" vs "fact" argument and the real weakness of trying to find the truth on the net is revealed without strong peer review based on a strong knowledge paradigm "buyer" of online knowledge beware". How many polls in the election were probably done on convenience samples in stead of a real random sample? After reading a bunch of posts, you are probably better off just going with your "gut" feeling

 

[Drdave944]

It is an imperfect world. My em-1 had part of the outer case fell off.There are yellow speckles in the EVF. Functionally it is still perfect. Sure ,this is not wonderful. But if your camera still does what you bought it for don't get all in a huff. You need to decide ,if you can live with it, or you think some other camera over the rainbow will be better. Let me hear how it turns out.

 

[Phocal]

Having taught a few MBA statistic courses, IMHO people are who participate in these forums are probably far to the right on the bell curve when it comes to being demanding of the performance of our gear (probably the same in every hobby) over the average Joe/Jill. Our wants and needs drive a desire for "more is better" and in a shrinking market and the manufacturers may even start to look seriously what is said on forums with costs rising if they don't already. It is a key reaction for people to display dissatisfaction when a product fails, in the old days the "a happy customer tells one, an unhappy one tells 10" is now magnified by a factor of a 1000 or more. And thus you have the old "feeling" vs "fact" argument and the real weakness of trying to find the truth on the net is revealed without strong peer review based on a strong knowledge paradigm "buyer" of online knowledge beware". How many polls in the election were probably done on convenience samples in stead of a real random sample? After reading a bunch of posts, you are probably better off just going with your "gut" feeling

I have to agree and it's why I laugh and get so made at threads like this. With a BS in Political Science, a MS in Demography and hopefully a PHD in Statistics in the future I can't help but let my knowledge of statistics and making decisions based on those statistics speak out. The selection of people that post here is so full of selection bias that it is laughable from a scientific standpoint. It's made even worse by the fact that most who post about a problem here also post it on at least one other website, so it gives the impression that there are more problems then there really are. What about those of use who have never had a problem with their gear? Few will post to these threads saying they have never had a problem, so you end up with what appears like it is a huge issue when in fact it could actually only be a problem for 1% of the cameras/lenses.

Guess it is time to sit back and be entertained by this thread

 

[medroller]

I don't owknwhat some of you are going on about . If you read through the thread you'll find the majority of comments are in favour of Olympus ,incuding my comments. I went onto Olympus's facebook page and praised them for their warranty and customer service. Their is an Australian Professional photographer Matt Granger who shoots with Nikon. He started using Sony On his local and overseas shoots. He was very happy with the cameras and wanted to keep on using them, but the long turn around times for service and cleaning made it difficult to keep using Sony. He said he really liked Sony, but was just stating a fact of the brand. And that is all we are doing here.

 

[EarthQuake]

Alright, so, the guys here who understand a bit about statics. You realize that without large sample, scientific, controlled random polling, both from Olympus users and users of other manufacturers, there are absolutely no conclusions you can reasonably come to here, right?

I don't care if you've got a PHD in statics, the data is simply not there to suggest with any degree of certainty that Olympus' failure rate is higher than the norm, lower than the norm, exaggerated by certain subgroups, or anything else.

All we have is anecdotal data. For instance, I've had numerous issues with my Olympus cameras. My EM5's rear dial fell off. My EM1's back grip fell off, the dial stopped working, and the USB port broke off when I was using the wired release (normal use, it didn't fall of a tripod or anything), which damaged the shutter function beyond use. I sent it for repair, and it came back with the IS system busted (I think this happened in shipping, but no way to be sure). As I am but one person, I do not have enough data to come to any meaningful conclusions other than the Olympus cameras I have owned have had more problems than cameras I've owned from other brands. This doesn't mean that I think all Olympus cameras are less reliable than other brands, I can only be reasonably certain of my own experiences.

Now, if you take my anecdotes and add them up with other anecdotes, you still don't have data, as anyone who knows anything about statistics will understand, because it's not a large, controlled sample. So this must mean that the reports of failure for Olympus products is simply a loud, tiny, vocal minority right? No, there is no data to suggest that either, doing so would be equally foolish as taking user complaints (anecdotes) as actual data. Even if we do agree (I do) that people who have problems (with anything, not just Olympus gear) tend to complain louder and more frequently, this phenomena does not in itself present any concrete data.

It would be great if we had some impartial, large sample database of user experiences to pull from to make more informed decisions, but unfortunately we do not. So, any meaningful conclusions drawn from any of this "information" (anecdotes) will always be highly subjective and flawed.

 

[Plumballs]

I believe i am now one of the 1% as after 2 years my EM10 started to have AF issues. It seems its an over exertion problems as when it hunts for focus i.e. works hard, it has trouble focussing afterwards. I have looked after my EM10 from the moment I was given it and am now totally gutted that it now is having problems. I will not have issues with Olympus because of this as although the camera was looked after it was worked hard. It is in for repair at the moment as I was also given 3 years insurance when it was purchased and I am really hoping it is fixed as I think the rendering on the EM10 is better (sharper with more detail but more noise) than the EM10 II. As someone else has already said you only tend to hear the horror stories on the forum as someone without issues (the silent 99%) will not tend to post that they have no issues.

I have been loaned an EP7 from my camera store until my camera is returned/ replaced, so I am not without a camera whilst my camera is assessed. I have just joined a local camera club so it would have been awkward if I did not have a camera!

Regards

Phil

 

[medroller]

That's well said earthquake. And That's all we are doing here , just having a Talk.

 

[Clint]

I really dislike seeing this topic at or near the top of the forum. Is this not a forum about Olympus gear? Maybe we could convince @Amin Sabet to change the TOS to include such post in the Other Systems

All brands have users that think the grass is greener on the other side, and it is a true shame that a minority of folks can drive such misguided perceptions.

 

[Phocal]

Alright, so, the guys here who understand a bit about statics. You realize that without large sample, scientific, controlled random polling, both from Olympus users and users of other manufacturers, there are absolutely no conclusions you can reasonably come to here, right?

I don't care if you've got a PHD in statics, the data is simply not there to suggest with any degree of certainty that Olympus' failure rate is higher than the norm, lower than the norm, exaggerated by certain subgroups, or anything else.

All we have is anecdotal data. For instance, I've had numerous issues with my Olympus cameras. My EM5's rear dial fell off. My EM1's back grip fell off, the dial stopped working, and the USB port broke off when I was using the wired release (normal use, it didn't fall of a tripod or anything), which damaged the shutter function beyond use. I sent it for repair, and it came back with the IS system busted (I think this happened in shipping, but no way to be sure). As I am but one person, I do not have enough data to come to any meaningful conclusions other than the Olympus cameras I have owned have had more problems than cameras I've owned from other brands. This doesn't mean that I think all Olympus cameras are less reliable than other brands, I can only be reasonably certain of my own experiences.

Now, if you take my anecdotes and add them up with other anecdotes, you still don't have data, as anyone who knows anything about statistics will understand, because it's not a large, controlled sample. So this must mean that the reports of failure for Olympus products is simply a loud, tiny, vocal minority right? No, there is no data to suggest that either, doing so would be equally foolish as taking user complaints (anecdotes) as actual data. Even if we do agree (I do) that people who have problems (with anything, not just Olympus gear) tend to complain louder and more frequently, this phenomena does not in itself present any concrete data.

It would be great if we had some impartial, large sample database of user experiences to pull from to make more informed decisions, but unfortunately we do not. So, any meaningful conclusions drawn from any of this "information" (anecdotes) will always be highly subjective and flawed.

You sure took a lot of words to say basically what I (the guy getting a PhD in stats) said.

You can't make any conclusion based on forum post. Period