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Ok, got my E-P1, but WHY Olympus....?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jon Ragnarsson
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You can't have it all. I'm sure we would all be surprised at how much is crammed into that little E-P1 body. ;)
 
It annoyes me too that Olympus doesn't use the standard mini usb jack but a slightly bigger one. It's as annoying as Panasonic using a super-mini connection which also isn't used for any other product I know or have.

Finally make mini usb a standard (like for all upcoming mobile phone chargers) and we could get rid of all those different cables.
Jn Ragnarsson said:
Why did you have to change to a different mini-usb socket? I keep a usb cord at work just in case I need to get some photos from the E-3, but now I see the E-P1 socket is different! WTF Olympus?

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Zauner said:
It annoyes me too that Olympus doesn't use the standard mini usb jack but a slightly bigger one. It's as annoying as Panasonic using a super-mini connection which also isn't used for any other product I know or have.

Finally make mini usb a standard (like for all upcoming mobile phone chargers) and we could get rid of all those different cables.
Jn Ragnarsson said:
Why did you have to change to a different mini-usb socket? I keep a usb cord at work just in case I need to get some photos from the E-3, but now I see the E-P1 socket is different! WTF Olympus?

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http://jonr.light.is
http://www.4-3system.com
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+1

One of the biggest annoyances is having 3 USB cables hanging around for your cameras (Canon DSLR, Panny ZS3 and Oly EP1)
 
I ranted about this when E-500 came out. Before that, every digital camera in our house, Olympus, HP, Canon, all used the same USB cord. It even worked for my Palm Pilot and my wife's cell phone charger.

When we got an E-500, the gray cord that came with it looked just like the one that came with my E-300, but the end was different. How ridiculous. It's bad enough there are so many proprietary L-ion batteries. Why can't USB cords a least be somewhat standardized?
 
I think it's mainly because it's something that you don't think about before you buy, and the mark-up on these things is ridiculous given how cheap they are to make, so they're a brilliant accessory. Almost necessary (you can use a card reader, but you still need it for camera firmware updates I think), proprietary, and totally out of the picture during the original purchase decisions.
mmditter said:
Why can't USB cords a least be somewhat standardized?
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On the E-P1, you need that cable for firmware update. You can't copy the new firmware installation files on a card.. you have to link your camera directly to the Olympus website using that special USB cable.

It is really painfull, especially if you are accustomed to download your pictures with a cardreader... then you have to remember where you stored your cable.. .

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rrr_hhh
 
BJN said:
You can update firmware via a memory card, the USB connection isn't required.
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Usually yes, but not with the E-P1.. you can't download the frimware if you aren't logged to the Olympus website. I wonder if they just wanted to pick some informations on how you are using their cameras..

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rrr_hhh
 
Hi,

get one of the USB-cards with build in USB. Sandisk ultraII+ is one, but likely other manufactures have similar things.

No cable, no card reader, just flip the card open and use any USB port.
I am still sad that I can not use it in my Oly dslr.

cheer

r.

PS: I agree, that a cable with a standard USB conector would be nice
 
rrr_hhh said:
rrr_hhh said:
You can update firmware via a memory card, the USB connection isn't required.
Click to expand...
Usually yes, but not with the E-P1.. you can't download the frimware if you aren't logged to the Olympus website. I wonder if they just wanted to pick some informations on how you are using their cameras..
Click to expand...
My guess is that it's a form of "copy protection". The CHDK firmware hack for Canon compacts uses an impostor firmware on the card to override the real firmware. But just like computer games that authenticate against a server to disable copying are hard to copy, the fact that Olympus firmware must authenticate to prevent tampering makes it pretty tamper-proof.

It's an unwelcome hassle for the actual users of the camera, but it enables Olympus to make sure no one can enable disabled features (my e-420 SLR doesn't have functions on three of its arrow keys, for instance. The more expensive 5xx and 6xx series have, on the other hand.)

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