Olympus E-P5 dial malfunction and warranty questions

Acadie4Me wrote:

Hi --

Yes, the EP5 is small, beautiful, and capable, with buttons and dials that I found convenient even with my big hands. I got terrific IQ.

But my camera was repaired twice by Olympus (in Canada) and the rear dial quickly failed after both repairs. I have seen a total of four dial failures on my two EP5's. I, too, had heard the rumors that the replacement top covers had a different "feel", so I had hope the first time I sent my camera in for repair. Indeed, the replacement top cover appeared to be "different". But it still failed quickly. . . .

I am truly sorry to hear about your experience. I must say the effect on me is to strengthen my skepticism about having the camera fixed - which would be at my own expense. No point in throwing good money after bad.

I used the camera extensively on Sunday at a confirmation party and I noticed that the back dial has gotten worse. Funny when the camera sits and you pick it up both dials seem fine. When the camera is used one of the dials malfunctions sporadically.

I'm still using the dials for now, but I have also set up the Fn button to give me access to the directional buttons to control both EV and F-Stop. Using the buttons isn't as fast as the dials, but it's not too annoyingly slow either. It would be really, really nice if my front dial held up so I continue to use that for EV - which I do change fairly often - while using the directional buttons to control aperture which I don't change that often. In any case, the button controls are usable.

But then I shoot with the LCD screen. I hadn't thought about this problem in relation to the EVF which I don't like and almost never use. I see now that you won't be able to access the directional dial with the camera up against your face - making the camera nearly unusable. Seems to me that under these circumstances you should ask Olympus to replace the camera with a different model with a built-in EVF.