Reading mode: Light Dark

What is it with Olympus and camera cables?

Go to last post
J

JudyN

Veteran Member
Messages
4,520
Solutions
3
Reaction score
592
Location
Wimberley USA, US
As I was preparing to update the firmware in my OMD E-M1 II I realized I didn't know where the cables went. Two new Olympus cameras within a few weeks, much excitement over cameras, who cares about cables... I finally found them both. Neither are like any other cable I own. I will need to store them somewhere I can find them once a year when I want to see if there are updates for the cameras? I don't use camera cables other than that.

The E-M1 II is USB-C. I don't have any other USB-C yet. So I look it up and the description says it's small. Small? It is MUCH larger than my current phone charger cables. But this apparently is our direction. Larger connectors, which are called smaller. I guess I can't complain about them using a new cable type that presumably I will come to know some time in the future.

The E-M5 II is apparently a proprietary cable. WHAT!? I stare at it and it looks kinda like an old old USB cable, but I've not got the energy to go try to find a very old USB cable to compare to it. So I try to look it up. Proprietary. Wonderful! I've had all sizes of USB cables for cameras but never before one that is not standard something. Often standard something I don't use much any more, but at least standard.

Have fun here!

Loading…

www.tethertools.com
 
USB-C is an upcoming standard which will probably become more common. While you don't perhaps have devices with suitable cables yet, you probably will in the future and replacement cables can be bought for next to nothing from internet.

The proprietary cables on the other hand are just stupid. The camera industry seems to be lagging almost a decade behind mobile phones in many things and this is one of them.

I'm glad GX80 has normal micro USB slot.
 
Last edited:
JudyN said:
As I was preparing to update the firmware in my OMD E-M1 II I realized I didn't know where the cables went. Two new Olympus cameras within a few weeks, much excitement over cameras, who cares about cables... I finally found them both. Neither are like any other cable I own. I will need to store them somewhere I can find them once a year when I want to see if there are updates for the cameras? I don't use camera cables other than that.

The E-M1 II is USB-C. I don't have any other USB-C yet. So I look it up and the description says it's small. Small? It is MUCH larger than my current phone charger cables. But this apparently is our direction. Larger connectors, which are called smaller. I guess I can't complain about them using a new cable type that presumably I will come to know some time in the future.
Click to expand...
Well there are more pins that need to be connected, and higher watts are transmitted. But over time, you will see more and more USB-C. I now have 2-3 devices that use USB 3.1, though these devices are setup so I can use USB 2.x (i.e. USB-B) as well, but it will be slower.
JudyN said:
The E-M5 II is apparently a proprietary cable. WHAT!? I stare at it and it looks kinda like an old old USB cable, but I've not got the energy to go try to find a very old USB cable to compare to it. So I try to look it up. Proprietary. Wonderful! I've had all sizes of USB cables for cameras but never before one that is not standard something. Often standard something I don't use much any more, but at least standard.
Click to expand...
It's been the standard Olympus USB cable for most of their DSLRs/micro-43rds/tough cameras (except for the E-3/E-5) since the introduction of the E-500 in 2005. But yeah, Olympus is moving towards standard cables with the E-m1 going to USB-C and the TG-5 going to USB-B.

There was also a smaller cable for some of Olympus' previous compact cameras, but the bigger cameras used the same cable. At least, Olympus has used the same cable for the last 12 years, rather than changing the cable with every new release.

Alternatively, you could use the LIGHTSNOWDEV site to update your firmware. Download the appropriate firmware, and install it on your SD card, and follow the instructions. You don't need the special Olympus download program, and you can go to earlier revisions if needed. I just used it to upgrade my E-m1 mark I from my Linux system, rather than trying to use my wife's Windows system (and remember what her password is).
 
Last edited:
I feel your pain, Judy. I went through the same exercise to update the firmware on my EM5ii earlier this week. Fortunately, I've had several older Olympus cameras that use the same proprietary cable and I found one in the box for an EPM1 that died long ago. I put the cable right back in the box so I'll be able to find it in the future. And then I continued the search for my EM5ii box and eventually found it, along with the cable that came with it.

I have Panasonic, Sony and Nikon that all use a standard micro USB connection. It's quite annoying that Oly decided it has to be different.
 
JudyN said:
As I was preparing to update the firmware in my OMD E-M1 II I realized I didn't know where the cables went. Two new Olympus cameras within a few weeks, much excitement over cameras, who cares about cables... I finally found them both. Neither are like any other cable I own. I will need to store them somewhere I can find them once a year when I want to see if there are updates for the cameras? I don't use camera cables other than that.

The E-M1 II is USB-C. I don't have any other USB-C yet. So I look it up and the description says it's small. Small? It is MUCH larger than my current phone charger cables. But this apparently is our direction. Larger connectors, which are called smaller. I guess I can't complain about them using a new cable type that presumably I will come to know some time in the future.
Click to expand...
The big deal with USB C is the power handling capacity of 100W, along with a reversible receptacle design. Definitely worth the upgrade, and hopefully Oly will embrace the design by allowing USB power and charging.
JudyN said:
The E-M5 II is apparently a proprietary cable. WHAT!? I stare at it and it looks kinda like an old old USB cable, but I've not got the energy to go try to find a very old USB cable to compare to it. So I try to look it up. Proprietary. Wonderful! I've had all sizes of USB cables for cameras but never before one that is not standard something. Often standard something I don't use much any more, but at least standard.
Click to expand...
The main reason for cameras using USB cables with extra conductors was to support analog video/audio and shutter triggering, but that need is quickly going away, as nobody cares to plug their 4k or HD camera into a TV with a crappy analog composite connector these days...

Olympus certainly was not the only one to do this - see below for the ugly details on how many choices there have been! Fortunately, I've had about 8 Oly cameras, so have no shortage of cables. They are about $8 on Amazon if you need a spare...

Loading…

pinouts.ru
 
I'm satisfied with the USB C and I'm sure I will see more of these cables, I also understand that there are more requirements for new equipment. Haven't we all connected a USB cable that LOOKED right but would not charge or transfer or whatever we wanted to do... Having cables that look the same but are not is not good... But it is curious that the USB C is called "small". The connector is not at all small compared to the other cables around my house. Maybe they couldn't make it smaller, but why call it SMALL? OK, it's smaller than a USB 3 cable and maybe that's what they mean?

It's great advantage is it can go in either way! YEAH for engineering! Not that I don't think they should have figured this out like 15 years ago! How many of us have to get our reading glasses or take off our glasses to see which way a USB cable needs to go in? My husband (an engineer) swears that there is a difference between the "top" and the "bottom" but usually whatever it is is not very visible because it's just molded into the plastic, so it's actually easier to stare at the cable and the slot and figure out which end is larger. Not that you always know where the "top" should be...
 
JudyN said:
I'm satisfied with the USB C and I'm sure I will see more of these cables, I also understand that there are more requirements for new equipment. Haven't we all connected a USB cable that LOOKED right but would not charge or transfer or whatever we wanted to do... Having cables that look the same but are not is not good... But it is curious that the USB C is called "small". The connector is not at all small compared to the other cables around my house. Maybe they couldn't make it smaller, but why call it SMALL? OK, it's smaller than a USB 3 cable and maybe that's what they mean?
Click to expand...
I think the 100W power handling is the limiting factor here. HP sold a Chromebook which charges by micro USB and uses a cable with beefier conductors, but they are notorious for overheating as the terminals in the plug are just too small to handle the power.
JudyN said:
It's great advantage is it can go in either way! YEAH for engineering! Not that I don't think they should have figured this out like 15 years ago! How many of us have to get our reading glasses or take off our glasses to see which way a USB cable needs to go in? My husband (an engineer) swears that there is a difference between the "top" and the "bottom" but usually whatever it is is not very visible because it's just molded into the plastic, so it's actually easier to stare at the cable and the slot and figure out which end is larger. Not that you always know where the "top" should be...
Click to expand...
Kind of like car keys. I've always driven European cars that have used reversible keys since the 50s, and it drove me crazy every time I had to drive a vehicle without them, or worse yet, my Dad's GM pickup with separate door and ignition keys! I suspect they've finally learned, but there are still plenty of other reasons I'd never buy an American vehicle...
 
G Rash said:
I feel your pain, Judy. I went through the same exercise to update the firmware on my EM5ii earlier this week. Fortunately, I've had several older Olympus cameras that use the same proprietary cable and I found one in the box for an EPM1 that died long ago. I put the cable right back in the box so I'll be able to find it in the future. And then I continued the search for my EM5ii box and eventually found it, along with the cable that came with it.

I have Panasonic, Sony and Nikon that all use a standard micro USB connection. It's quite annoying that Oly decided it has to be different.
Click to expand...
Not really different; they just stuck with their cable choice longer than the others, as nearly every make used a non-standard cable for a period of time to support analog signals alongside USB. In going with standard USB, you lose the ability to use an inexpensive shutter release cable, which can be quite handy. Does Oly offer a USB-C shutter release cable for the E-M1ii yet?
 
zuikowesty said:
G Rash said:
I feel your pain, Judy. I went through the same exercise to update the firmware on my EM5ii earlier this week. Fortunately, I've had several older Olympus cameras that use the same proprietary cable and I found one in the box for an EPM1 that died long ago. I put the cable right back in the box so I'll be able to find it in the future. And then I continued the search for my EM5ii box and eventually found it, along with the cable that came with it.

I have Panasonic, Sony and Nikon that all use a standard micro USB connection. It's quite annoying that Oly decided it has to be different.
Click to expand...
Not really different; they just stuck with their cable choice longer than the others, as nearly every make used a non-standard cable for a period of time to support analog signals alongside USB. In going with standard USB, you lose the ability to use an inexpensive shutter release cable, which can be quite handy. Does Oly offer a USB-C shutter release cable for the E-M1ii yet?
Click to expand...
No, they use a separate port with a 2.5mm audio cable for the shutter release (RM-CB2). This cable uses the same pinouts as some/many Canon cameras.

One of the problems with the old combined cable was it was a combined cable. I really wished Olympus had made a combo cable splitter that would allow me to connect an analog monitor, shutter release, and USB cable. For awhile, Olympus produced a cable that combined shutter release and USB cable (for their DSLR tethering), but it didn't include the analog monitor. There were combination analog monitor and shutter release cable products out there, but Olympus never produced an official cable for that.

Now with the wifi smartphone option, there is less need for this. The cameras since the E-m5 mark II now also support plugging in an HDMI monitor into the HDMI port (previously, if you plugged in an HDMI cable, it would make the camera go into review mode).
 
Last edited:
JudyN said:
As I was preparing to update the firmware in my OMD E-M1 II I realized I didn't know where the cables went. Two new Olympus cameras within a few weeks, much excitement over cameras, who cares about cables... I finally found them both. Neither are like any other cable I own. I will need to store them somewhere I can find them once a year when I want to see if there are updates for the cameras? I don't use camera cables other than that.

The E-M1 II is USB-C. I don't have any other USB-C yet. So I look it up and the description says it's small. Small? It is MUCH larger than my current phone charger cables. But this apparently is our direction. Larger connectors, which are called smaller. I guess I can't complain about them using a new cable type that presumably I will come to know some time in the future.

The E-M5 II is apparently a proprietary cable. WHAT!? I stare at it and it looks kinda like an old old USB cable, but I've not got the energy to go try to find a very old USB cable to compare to it. So I try to look it up. Proprietary. Wonderful! I've had all sizes of USB cables for cameras but never before one that is not standard something. Often standard something I don't use much any more, but at least standard.

Have fun here!
https://www.tethertools.com/camera/
Click to expand...
 
JudyN said:
I'm satisfied with the USB C and I'm sure I will see more of these cables, I also understand that there are more requirements for new equipment. Haven't we all connected a USB cable that LOOKED right but would not charge or transfer or whatever we wanted to do... Having cables that look the same but are not is not good... But it is curious that the USB C is called "small". The connector is not at all small compared to the other cables around my house. Maybe they couldn't make it smaller, but why call it SMALL? OK, it's smaller than a USB 3 cable and maybe that's what they mean?

It's great advantage is it can go in either way! YEAH for engineering! Not that I don't think they should have figured this out like 15 years ago! How many of us have to get our reading glasses or take off our glasses to see which way a USB cable needs to go in? My husband (an engineer) swears that there is a difference between the "top" and the "bottom" but usually whatever it is is not very visible because it's just molded into the plastic, so it's actually easier to stare at the cable and the slot and figure out which end is larger. Not that you always know where the "top" should be...
Click to expand...
 
Impulses said:
JudyN said:
I'm satisfied with the USB C and I'm sure I will see more of these cables, I also understand that there are more requirements for new equipment. Haven't we all connected a USB cable that LOOKED right but would not charge or transfer or whatever we wanted to do... Having cables that look the same but are not is not good... But it is curious that the USB C is called "small". The connector is not at all small compared to the other cables around my house. Maybe they couldn't make it smaller, but why call it SMALL? OK, it's smaller than a USB 3 cable and maybe that's what they mean?

It's great advantage is it can go in either way! YEAH for engineering! Not that I don't think they should have figured this out like 15 years ago! How many of us have to get our reading glasses or take off our glasses to see which way a USB cable needs to go in? My husband (an engineer) swears that there is a difference between the "top" and the "bottom" but usually whatever it is is not very visible because it's just molded into the plastic, so it's actually easier to stare at the cable and the slot and figure out which end is larger. Not that you always know where the "top" should be...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
JudyN said:
Impulses said:
JudyN said:
I'm satisfied with the USB C and I'm sure I will see more of these cables, I also understand that there are more requirements for new equipment. Haven't we all connected a USB cable that LOOKED right but would not charge or transfer or whatever we wanted to do... Having cables that look the same but are not is not good... But it is curious that the USB C is called "small". The connector is not at all small compared to the other cables around my house. Maybe they couldn't make it smaller, but why call it SMALL? OK, it's smaller than a USB 3 cable and maybe that's what they mean?

It's great advantage is it can go in either way! YEAH for engineering! Not that I don't think they should have figured this out like 15 years ago! How many of us have to get our reading glasses or take off our glasses to see which way a USB cable needs to go in? My husband (an engineer) swears that there is a difference between the "top" and the "bottom" but usually whatever it is is not very visible because it's just molded into the plastic, so it's actually easier to stare at the cable and the slot and figure out which end is larger. Not that you always know where the "top" should be...

--
Judy
Click to expand...
It's pretty small, not sure what you're comparing it with... A barrel type plug from 5+ years ago? It might be like 1mm wider than the current standard (Type B or micro USB) but it's reversible and a whole lot more robust and capable, there's actually a lot more wires going thru the cable too.

I mean, it's not significantly larger than a Lighting connector either.. I'm struggling to think what your frame of reference for a small connector would be. Are you referring to the metal plug itself or to the whole head including the strain relief and whatnot? It's possible Oly's stock cable is larger than normal along the head, I haven't seen it.
Click to expand...
The connector is wider than the USB connector that goes into my phone. It is about half again wider than the Olympus proprietary cable. Thinner but wider. So when I read that USB C is "small" my question is small compared to what? A USB 3 connector I guess. I only use them for portable disk drives.

--
Judy
Click to expand...
It's very minimally wider than a micro USB connector... Are you quibbling about 1mm? Or is your phone an iPhone? I guess the Lighting connector might be 2mm less wide? It IS a small connector, and reversible, and better built than the others mentioned (no spring pins or exposed contacts).



IMG_0713.jpg


That's Type C vs Lighting vs micro, ignore the size of the cable jacket around the connector as that's variable and different brands of cables will have more or less of it.

Are you really arguing the minimal difference seen there means the one on the left can't be called 'small' or does your phone use some other sort of smaller propertiary connector than any of those?
 
To be more specific, and because the comment that Type C can't possibly be called small still seems bizarre...

Micro USB: 6.8mm x 2mm (not sure if the includes the flimsy protruding spring pins)

Apple Lighting (propietary): 7.6mm x 1.4mm

Type C: 8.25mm x 2.4mm

They all insert about as deep so length is similar... Are you really saying that being ~1mm wider or thicker makes it silly to call it a small connector? Just checking, since you seemed to stress the point so much.

It's easily the most robust and rated for the highest number of plug/unplug cycles, ignoring everything else it's capable of.
 
OK. I give up. It is small even though it's 2 mm wider than previous connectors. I do quibble that you would call something larger than the previous version small... My first thought was this connector is not small and can't be type C, but Olympus said it was type C.
 
JudyN said:
OK. I give up. It is small even though it's 2 mm wider than previous connectors. I do quibble that you would call something larger than the previous version small... My first thought was this connector is not small and can't be type C, but Olympus said it was type C.
Click to expand...
 
JudyN said:
OK. I give up. It is small even though it's 2 mm wider than previous connectors. I do quibble that you would call something larger than the previous version small... My first thought was this connector is not small and can't be type C, but Olympus said it was type C.
Click to expand...
 
Older USB standards can take a much longer time to transfer your photos to your PC. Be happy Oly included the cables you need -- that's starting to happen less and less.
 
dgrogers said:
Older USB standards can take a much longer time to transfer your photos to your PC. Be happy Oly included the cables you need -- that's starting to happen less and less.
Click to expand...
Well, a $10 card reader will easily solve that issue... Even one the supports the latest UHS-II cards and USB 3.0 speeds won't cost more than that.

I imagine they've moved on to Type C for tethering purposes, or to save space (same connector could eventually be used for video out AND power) and/or settle on something that's gonna be standard and easier/cheaper to source going forward.

The old 8-pin quasi propietary connector had to go at some point, literally. Definitely nice that it's included tho, not sure I've ever bought a camera that didn't include a data cable tho Panasonic did get in the habit of bundling one that's like 1.5ft! Just as well, besides updates I only ever use them for OTG connections to my phone.
 
Impulses said:
The E-M5 II and many other M4/3 bodies did use a semi propietary USB connector the actually predates the micro USB standard and should've been dead by now, for whatever reason several camera makers (even outside of M4/3, Nikon uses it too IIRC) started using it and found it hard to let it go... I'm glad we're at that point now tho.
Click to expand...
I confirm that Nikon used the same plug. Also confirm that other multimedia companies used it before the USB now standard micro-B plug was standardized (in 2007). They actually submitted to become part of the USB standards, but it wasn't accepted, and the USB org picked what's now that very common micro-B USB plug.

But, yeah, USB C will replace all the mini/micro and many full size USB plugs in the coming years. Glad Oly got on board this early.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

C
OM Workspace won’t update camera
Replies
1
Views
2
Carol Darby
C
luxborealis
SOLVED! M4 MacBook Air macOS 26.0.1 not recognizing OM-1i
Replies
2
Views
3
James Stirling
James Stirling
M
OM-3 D-pad
Replies
6
Views
7
MNE
M
R
OM-5 ii vs E-M5 iii
Replies
5
Views
35
Dann-Oh
D
B
Just checking: Camera bodies compatible with the 100-400 MkII's 5-axis Sync IS
Replies
2
Views
3
Snapsh0t
Snapsh0t

Keyboard shortcuts

f
Forum
m
My threads
Mobile site
About
Editorial content
Cameras & Lenses
Community
All content, design, and layout are Copyright © 1998–2025 Digital Photography Review All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction in whole or part in any form or medium without specific written permission is prohibited.
When you use DPReview links to buy products, the site may earn a commission.
©GPS Media - Guides, Products, Services.
Back
Top