Olympus PEN-EP5 Broken.

Stufishing wrote:

Hi All, Hope you can help. First of all, my three year old EP5 has broken. It turns on but doesn't load the menu and turns back off again very quickly, with a funny whirring/grinding noise like the camera made (when the camera was working) when it starts taking a photo. I've spoken to Olympus in Australia, they say minimum 300 AUD repair as camera is out of warranty by 18 months. This is about half the price of the camera three and a half years ago. They claim the main board is broken, despite the occasional IS error flashing on the screen in red. I have tried both my lenses and without a lens and the result is the same, so it isn't the lens.

Firstly. Does anyone have any ideas on the error? Does this main board diagnosis sound right? Ive searched the web, only significant fault that comes up repeatedly is the dial, which works fine on mine.

Secondly, if the error is correct, what do i do next. I have the two m.zuiko MFT lenses 14-42 zoom and the 150 zoom with all the filters for both, so a considerable investment. And a spare battery plus tripod mount and backpack strap/belt mount clip to suit. So I have enough gear to be upset that I seem to only have the choice to buy another Olympus.

I'm upset the EP5 is toast within three years. I expect a far greater lifespan out of a modern camera. Am I just unlucky? Camera has been treated with kid gloves.

Logical step is to buy the EPL8 or whatever body and move on. But i'm really reluctant to buy another camera which fails inside four years. I'm just a casual photographer, holiday snaps and I like the quality photos the EP-5 created, plus the video was quite presentable. And I loved the feel of the EP-5 body, it felt industrial and it really looked great. Reviews on the EPL8 dont wow me like the EP5 did. Is it necessary to move up the scale of Olympus cameras to get a better life from the camera?

I had a good tripod and struggled with night time focusing, but then again, I never tried to put any effort into working out how to improve it.

Would love to hear your thoughts on what to do next. I cant really afford to just buy the latest and greatest, and definitely feel severely let down by the lifespan of this camera.

Thanks in advance

Stuart

First off, sorry to hear about your E-P5.

I don't know anything about Olympus repairs, specially in OZ but in general, what happened to you is NOT common. Seems you were just subjugated to bad luck. You shouldn't worry about another Olympus dying on you.

Now, with that said, Olympus does have it's share of build quality problems but they are generally not that serious.

Personally, I do tend to buy quite a bit off eBay. If you are careful and patient, there is a lot of good stuff there. So if you don't mind buying used or don't mind buying from eBay, it's not bad. Got my E-P1, E-P2, Panasonic GX1 and Panasonic GM1 (among a ton of other stuff) from there.

With that said, M43 is not just Olympus. You have the choice of all Panasonic M43 cameras as well. Currently, the closest to your E-P5 from a design/looks perspective is probably the Panasonic GX80/85 and GX8. Both are superb cameras albeit the latter one I believe may be out of your price range. In general, Panasonic seems to have a better reputation for build quality.

Either way, whether you go Olympus E-M10 mk(whatever), another E-P5 or some Panasonic camera, you should come out with a very good camera. Good luck.