Olympus firmware question

[Burma]

My omd em1 is behaving strangely - lots of weird and irritating things like: focus point size keeps reverting to large, I can’t switch on eye focus, can’t allocate functions to buttons and other stuff I haven’t discovered.
I suspect it’s a firmware problem and I’d like to do a clean reinstall but can’t work out how to do it.
I have the latest firmware already but the firmware updater only updates and the manual and google are silent on it.
Any ideas how to do this?

- - - Updated - - -

Ok - just discovered this only happens when I have keystone compensation activated. When I switch it off everything seems to revert to my normal settings.
I still think might be a firmware glitch.

[ameerat42]

Just an interim reply from a non-Oly owner...

Firstly, I don't know that these are symptoms of outdated firmware if they have just recently developed,
but...

On my camera - a ΣSD1M - and all the others I've had, you simply copy the firmware file to the ROOT
directory/folder of your memory card.If this is your sticking point, use a card reader, or make sure you
can xfer files to the right place using a USB cable.

Then insert card in the camera, switch ON, and look for your menu for the likes of "Update Firmware".
Select that, and... :th3:

NOTE: Make sure the battery is fully charged, as you don't want the camera to power off during a
firmware update.

But regardless of the foregoing, can't you find anything on "firmware update [olympus camera model]"?

I found this (which I have NOT read):
https://cs.olympus-imaging.jp/en/support/imsg/digicamera/download/software/camera/cameraupdate.cfm

- - - Updated - - -

^^ Just read those instructions... - GAWD!:eek:

[Burma]

Thanks AM. Updating firmware is pretty straightforward with Oly via direct connection to the computer and I’ve been running the latest for quite a while. But they don’t anywhere give the option of a clean reinstall. They also say once you’ve updated to the latest firmware it’s not possible to go back to an earlier version, so I suspect a clean install isn’t gong to be easy without some complicated hack.

The problems seem to have begun when I turned on ‘keystone compensation’ - I haven’t used it in the past - but since turning it off it all seems to be back to working normally. I’m hoping that whatever glitch is a result of that function.

[Ross the fiddler]

If this is the E-M1 (& not E-M1 II), then FW 4.3 update addressed a situation when using Keystone Comp.


Corrected the following problems that occurred in version 4.2:
Misoperation when shooting with HDR, Focus Stacking, Hand-Held Starlight, or Keystone Comp. while Rec View is set to Off.
* The camera functions are the same as version 4.2.

However, the FW is now at 4.6. (http://dl01.olympus-imaging.com/ww/ud2/ENU/0001/1090/index46a.html)

If you really wanted to do a reinstall from the SD card, then LightSnowDev (https://lightsnowdev.com/Olympus/) allows you to do that, but I don't think it would be necessary, however, it's there if you need it. It even lets you do earlier updates, but I wouldn't recommend going backwards though.

[Burma]

Thanks for that, Ross. Yes it is the earlier EM 1. I’m already on 4.6.
I haven’t used keystone comp before and wasn’t aware that this was an acknowledged problem, so it’s a relief to know. Looking back, the problems do seem to have started when I turned on keystone in the main menu and allocated a function button.
Everything seems back to normal with it turned off in the main menu. I just won’t worry about it. I can turn it on for specific shots or make any corrections in PP.
thanks again

[Nick Cliff]

Interesting the OMD EM1 does seem prone to functions turning on and off with different settings.
Turned the first noise filter option off in the menu for longer exposure times and now unable to turn it on again so do not expect to be able to necessarily be able to turn settings on and off and on again with this cameras menu even after doing a more comprehensive reset.
Not the end of the world, the next noise filter reduction option for the more common shutter times used is still on and had not intended to use this camera for astro photography.
Have reset functions on the Fn1 button for instance without any problems.

cheers Nick

[Ross the fiddler]

Interesting the OMD EM1 does seem prone to functions turning on and off with different settings.
Turned the first noise filter option off in the menu for longer exposure times and now unable to turn it on again so do not expect to be able to necessarily be able to turn settings on and off and on again with this cameras menu even after doing a more comprehensive reset.
Not the end of the world, the next noise filter reduction option for the more common shutter times used is still on and had not intended to use this camera for astro photography.
Have reset functions on the Fn1 button for instance without any problems.

cheers Nick

Noise Filter shouldn't be affected (although there might be a function that cancels it), however Noise Reduction is automatically disabled with sequential drive mode, since that is Dark Frame Subtraction.

[Nick Cliff]

Ross many thanks for that, at present the camera used with aperture priority and RAW photos for manual lenses.
Am only using manual focus lenses however had another go at the advanced camera reset doing a few more operations and for longer this time and everything is good to go mate:)


cheers Nick

[Nick Cliff]

Have Olympus EP5 cameras that can process Olympus Raw File (.ORF) photos when using Olympus viewer 3.
The EP5 cameras have not had firmware updates.

The problem is the OMD EM1 .ORF files will not open to be processed unless I convert the file to a JPG first before processing that has little advantage over the EP5 .ORF RAW files.
The OMD EM1 has the latest Olympus firmware updates and have reset the camera to the manufacturers settings and reloaded Olympus viewer 3 a few times and installed windows 10 RAW file reading updates.

Have resolved to wait and see if it is a windows 10 compatibility problem and hopefully a future windows update may solve this .ORF file reading problem or perhaps start using Adobe for processing the .ORF files in future.

- - - Updated - - -

The OMD EM1 camera is not able to process ORF RAW files in Olympus viewer 3 and have noticed a few other people have had similar problems while the EP5 cameras have had no problems at all.
Am using Windows 10 with Google as the browser.
Am considering using Adobe for processing these files.
Had been hesitant to use Adobe etc as some folk were having problems with artifacts and noise however I gather a lot of these issues are resolved now.

cheers Nick

[Ross the fiddler]

Olympus Viewer 3 has been replaced with Olympus Workspace instead. https://support.olympus-imaging.com/owdownload/

[Mary Anne]

Good to know Ross Thanks :th3:

[Nick Cliff]

Will see what happens Ross see there are two options for windows 32 or 64 bit will need to see what the requirements are for the OMD EM1.

Cheers Nick

[Nick Cliff]

Downloaded the Olympus Workspace free version.
Olympus delivered a very basic version of Workspace having being given the serial number of the OMD EM1 camera. The advanced version of Workspace would be nice for the OMD EM1 for focus stacking for macros and landscapes with Olympus lenses.

Basic Workspace is nothing like the advanced versions that you would see Olympus photographers using to promote the Olympus system that appears to be up there with Adobe and very impressive.

The photos can be processed in a basic way now so that is something though not to the level required for printing high quality prints.

Can still use Adobe for $20 or so a month and this would give me the flexibility to use other mirror-less camera systems very easily in the future.


Cheers Nick

[Ross the fiddler]

I don't know that it is 'basic' as you put it but it does depend on the options you can select in the setup & also the settings available for the E-M1 as opposed to later models. A couple of new functions added are 'Clarity' & 'Dehaze' & these should work for both raw & jpeg files. Also have you checked for updates to that program from the 'Help' drop down? It will add the Help PDF files if you don't have them already.

[Nick Cliff]

Thanks Ross the camera is old technology I agree, 7 years is a long time with this technology and the free software is good that is on offer.
The dehaze option will be good and will look into the clarity more it is not that obvious when processing what is happening to the photo until the final export so a bit of experience will be required.
It is remarkable we have the Photoshop option with Adobe to keep these older generation cameras operating and do not expect Olympus or other camera brands to waste too many resources on older cameras photo processing software.
Will use the help menu as suggested Ross too.

Cheers Nick