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Olympus USA Service: the NeverEnding Story
- Thread starter Day Hiker
- Start date
Sergey_Green
Veteran Member
I am way behind in technology, had to to google for what lenspen looks like and what it does.
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- sergey
CollBaxter
Veteran Member
Sergey it really works well. I brought 2 in from B&H and bought the first locally. I would only use the 2 or 3 times for safety sake. They then make a great mirror cleaner. The Nikon techs apparently use them on the sensor when working with shutters etc. Also use it to remove streaks after wet clean.
It does not remove sticky stuff. Costs $9 about $3 a clean.
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Collin
(Aficionado Olympus DSLR )
http://collinbaxter.zenfolio.com/
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. (George Carlin)
It does not remove sticky stuff. Costs $9 about $3 a clean.
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Collin
(Aficionado Olympus DSLR )
http://collinbaxter.zenfolio.com/
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. (George Carlin)
CollBaxter
Veteran Member
Dave
Louis is a fine photographer who we all listen to but a lot must be taken in context.
Not only Louis uses the E-5 and has opinions on the focusing.
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1022&message=38902357
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Collin
(Aficionado Olympus DSLR )
http://collinbaxter.zenfolio.com/
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. (George Carlin)
Louis is a fine photographer who we all listen to but a lot must be taken in context.
Not only Louis uses the E-5 and has opinions on the focusing.
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1022&message=38902357
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Collin
(Aficionado Olympus DSLR )
http://collinbaxter.zenfolio.com/
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. (George Carlin)
Great Bustard
Veteran Member
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Basically the same thing as many others have said. Let me know, and I can shoot you some links and quotes. If you're looking for one in particular, give me a hint, and I'll see what I can do.
Great Bustard
Veteran Member
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...the lenspen is awesome. I use a lenspen on my lenses, and a lenspen sensorklear on the sensor. Of course, blow and brush first.
CollBaxter
Veteran Member
Yep as to the sensorpen I have to agree on that.
I sjhoot wildlife and if I have to change a lens I do it then and there I got pollen on the sensor and unknown sticky stuff in a sand storm.
The ssw normally cleans off all the stuff. But sometimes not.
It’s a great product. I have only had to do 2 wet cleans in 6 years. But I did not have to send it in for a sensor clean. Sensor pen is magic . Blow out wipe a few times , blow out again and turn the camera on and off a few times and (SSW) that’s it.
I was a bit hesitant the first time and got streaks after the wet clean but the sensor pen sorted that out. Oh yes its also small enough to use to clean your eye piece. I has also used it to clean the focus screen ( Very gently though) after I somehow manage to get a finger print on it.
Cheers
http://www.lenspen.com/?resultType=category¶ms=17&tpid=0&tpid=323
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Collin
(Aficionado Olympus DSLR )
http://collinbaxter.zenfolio.com/
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. (George Carlin)
I sjhoot wildlife and if I have to change a lens I do it then and there I got pollen on the sensor and unknown sticky stuff in a sand storm.
The ssw normally cleans off all the stuff. But sometimes not.
It’s a great product. I have only had to do 2 wet cleans in 6 years. But I did not have to send it in for a sensor clean. Sensor pen is magic . Blow out wipe a few times , blow out again and turn the camera on and off a few times and (SSW) that’s it.
I was a bit hesitant the first time and got streaks after the wet clean but the sensor pen sorted that out. Oh yes its also small enough to use to clean your eye piece. I has also used it to clean the focus screen ( Very gently though) after I somehow manage to get a finger print on it.
Cheers
http://www.lenspen.com/?resultType=category¶ms=17&tpid=0&tpid=323
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Collin
(Aficionado Olympus DSLR )
http://collinbaxter.zenfolio.com/
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. (George Carlin)
peripheralfocus
Veteran Member
I've always found this dynamic kind of fascinating (it's true of every camera company I'm aware of, including the one for whom I was a sales rep for 8 years, Nikon USA). I wonder how widespread it is in other industries, and if it also works in reverse -- if, say, service from Apple is much better in the U.S. than it is in Japan? I don't know.
But in any case, it's worth pointing out that the issue here isn't really that Olympus America could learn something from Olympus Japan. Ultimately, Olympus Japan is responsible for this dynamic because Olympus America is a wholly-owned subsidiary.
Olympus Japan simply doesn't let their U.S. subsidiary spend the money necessary to offer this kind of service, while they reserve the privilege to do so themselves in Japan. It's very expensive to offer service at that level. (Free repairs when your warranty has expired? That's a big cost to Olympus.)
Olympus Japan exerts cost control and profit pressure on Olympus America that prevents Olympus America from behaving similarly.
Again, I don't mean to single out Olympus; every camera company I am aware of behaves the same way. Nikon was exactly the same when I worked for them. They routinely did things in Japan that we could never dream of in the U.S. because they required us to control our operating costs on a much stricter basis.
I'm not sure what explains this. I mean, how do they pay for it? One possibility is that the Japanese market is less price competitive and therefore the companies can comfortably operate on larger profit margins, which they can then use, partly, to offer better service. This was the case in the U.S. prior to the late 1970s, and, for example, I know for sure from direct experience that Nikon's U.S. distributor in those days offered much better service than it did 25 years later. Its profit margins were significantly higher and it could afford to.
Another factor may be that in Japan the expectation of service hasn't eroded as much as in the U.S., and the companies couldn't get away with lower levels of service, although this is something of a chicken-and-egg question.
And I wonder if cultural factors are at play -- ideas of honorable behavior or a certain sense of Japanese national and community identity, or both -- that strongly influence high-end Japanese companies to bend over backwards for customers, and this operates much more strongly in the cultural environment of Japan than it does elsewhere. But I'm always very skeptical of cultural arguments, so that's why I'm interested to know how Apple or Nokia, say, handle customer relations in Japan (and elsewhere) compared to their home countries.
CollBaxter
Veteran Member
Thanks for the insight. I think your point on cultural behaviour is very valid in this instance . I come from a country with very diversified culture. The blue print for Companies like Olympus business culture is spread to is subsidiaries. They handle business in a certain way and expect their customers to react according to the preset blueprint. Unfortunately in some of the more verbose countries there are no or few mechanisms in place to handle the pushy , uncurious , customer who demands things outside the system.
This then becomes a so called Customer service issue. If the company was local the response after perusing most avenues would be a polite " Get stuffed and sue if you want to." companies like Olympus would only use this as the last recourse and even then not at all.
It all come down to one word 'Face" however that is expected from both parties and are the rules of the game. In some countries there is a difference between my 'face" and your 'face" and the twain shall not meet.
There is also maybe the thing about a lot of companies getting tired of being bullied by large volume unprofitable markets and relooking at their options. HSBC are taking their ball and going home and inviting places like China , Mexico and Turkey to come and play in the new game
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Collin
(Aficionado Olympus DSLR )
http://collinbaxter.zenfolio.com/
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. (George Carlin)
This then becomes a so called Customer service issue. If the company was local the response after perusing most avenues would be a polite " Get stuffed and sue if you want to." companies like Olympus would only use this as the last recourse and even then not at all.
It all come down to one word 'Face" however that is expected from both parties and are the rules of the game. In some countries there is a difference between my 'face" and your 'face" and the twain shall not meet.
There is also maybe the thing about a lot of companies getting tired of being bullied by large volume unprofitable markets and relooking at their options. HSBC are taking their ball and going home and inviting places like China , Mexico and Turkey to come and play in the new game
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Collin
(Aficionado Olympus DSLR )
http://collinbaxter.zenfolio.com/
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. (George Carlin)
B
Bruce Spell
Guest
Apparently, you are looking back much more than you admit. Don't let the door hit you on the backside on the way out. Bye.
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Bruce
exdeejjjaaaa
Veteran Member
translation : HSBC can't compete in one place - trying to find another place where they still can.
Great Bustard
Veteran Member
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Quite possibly. It's also possible that the Japanese accept that a camera is "fixed" because the service people told them it is "fixed".
I was never totally in the cooler apparently. My cell phone still had me logged in. I was still able to receive my private messages. My "time-out" was over a week ago but this is the busy season for my job so I haven't been on here much this past week.
I have no personal experience with Olympus service as all three of my previous Olympus cameras have never required it, but I would definitely do it myself.
I have simply buried my head in the sand for the present time. No F/22, no oil spot, so for now the problem is non-existent. I will probably give it the old sponge bath this week, since I will be on vacation.
I sure will, as there are a few things I'd enjoy talking about. I can't imagine why my email bounced you as it seems to be working fine. If you don't mind, could you try resending it? Thanks.
Robert
Chris_in_Osaka
Veteran Member
I can't speak for Japanese people, just for myself and I'm not Japanese.
I can only praise Olympus Japan based on my own personal experience with them on four separate occasions. They actually did more than I expected (free repairs, warranties on the work, improved performance in the case of the 14-54mm, ready before the specified date).
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Canon 5D Mark II, 24-105mm L, 70-200mm f/4L IS, EF 50mm f1.4, Tokina 16-28mm f2.8.
Olympus E-PL1, 9-18mm, 14-42mm II, 17mm, & FL-36R.
Canon PowerShot TX1
Ricoh GR-D
Sony DSC-V3
greendave
Forum Enthusiast
Right. I don't think his issues ever got solved either. I'd certainly trust his impressions over the usual cheering section.
Of course, but that's my point. I don't think their repair people have half a clue. Maybe there are some good ones, but my experience was that we (Olympus repair and me) just went in circles. The most expensive Olympus lens I bought was the 12-60, and by then my policy was that if it didn't work immediately out of the box, the only thing to do was to return it and try something else. Fortunately I got lucky, but as Jim is experiencing, you can't count on that, and once you get involved with the service folks, it's just one headache after another.
~Dave
peripheralfocus
Veteran Member
Hi Chris,
Do you have any thoughts on, or service experiences with, non-Japanese companies operating in Japan -- i.e. with the Japanese subsidiaries of American or European corporations? Would be interested to know how they compare, in Japan, to Japanese companies and also how they compare to their own divisions back in their home countries (if you have any impressions of that). And how about other high-end Japanese companies besides Olympus?
Would be interested to hear your take, if you've got any opinions on it.
Do you have any thoughts on, or service experiences with, non-Japanese companies operating in Japan -- i.e. with the Japanese subsidiaries of American or European corporations? Would be interested to know how they compare, in Japan, to Japanese companies and also how they compare to their own divisions back in their home countries (if you have any impressions of that). And how about other high-end Japanese companies besides Olympus?
Would be interested to hear your take, if you've got any opinions on it.
Chris_in_Osaka
Veteran Member
It's hard to say, since I don't have experience using the services of some of the companies outside Japan.
Apple from what I can tell maintains a high standard all over the globe. People have told me my good experience with them in Osaka is not unique.
I use Citibank in Osaka. One of the reasons I opened an account with them was due to the difficulty I had getting a Japanese credit card from a Japanese bank. Japanese banks are very sterile, lets get down to business type places with the atmosphere ( and take a number and wait) of a drivers license or passport office. Citibank Japan has carved a small (it's dwarfed by Japanese banks) niche for itself with branches that have sofas, modern Ikea like wood counters, classical music, scenic windows, and a multilingual, well dressed staff (as opposed dull uniforms worn by regular bank workers). It's hard to say if the service is better, but they have less customers (using a foreign bank is a strange concept to most Japanese) so they spend more time with individuals when needed (choosing the right account, credit cards, etc.)
McDonald's Big Macs look like the ads. The staff take their jobs seriously (unlike some of the young people you'd see working there in N.America), It helps that working at McDonald's doesn't have a stigma attached or is the stuff of jokes like elsewhere. I like the occasional Big Mac, but I no longer go to McDonald's outside of Japan.
The ground staff working for foreign airlines (Air Canada, United etc. are usually more polite than those at foreign airports. At worst, they are professional to the point of dullness.
The interesting thing for me is restaurants like Outback and Hard Rock Cafe, In Japan, there is no tipping. Service is worked into the price and the people earn a decent wage for what they do. Yet they still manage to maintain a decent level of service with a smile, though maybe not as over the top friendly as you find in N.America where people must put on that fake face and jump through hoops to get tips to make enough to live.
Costco is...Costco.
There is one big BUT. Sometimes the staff follow their training to the point of silliness. I realized this the first time I ordered a Coke with no ice at McDonald's. First the worker confirmed my order with the manger and then filled my cup with the soda fountain preset amount of coke, minus ice. The cup was about half empty.
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Canon 5D Mark II, 24-105mm L, 70-200mm f/4L IS, EF 50mm f1.4, Tokina 16-28mm f2.8.
Olympus E-PL1, 9-18mm, 14-42mm II, 17mm, & FL-36R.
Canon PowerShot TX1
Ricoh GR-D
Sony DSC-V3
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