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OMD EM1 III doesn‘t seem to recognize the flash anymore, doesn‘t automatically limit shutter speed

Started 1 month ago | Discussions thread
Joseph S Wisniewski Forum Pro • Posts: 35,461
Not much help, but try cleaning the contacts
2

macrophoto_markus wrote:

I just noticed an issue with my camera and i‘ve tried everything

Define "everything".

and can‘t seem to find a solution.

My first step is to clean the contacts. A Q-tip swab and some pure isopropyl alcohol or methanol works great. By "pure" I mean something like sensor-cleaning grade. Not "70% denatured rubbing alcohol" from the chemist/pharmacy/drug store. Let them dry thoroughly, because alcohol and electricity don't mix.

  • A pencil eraser wrecks contacts. It's slightly abrasive, full of sulfur, and typically picks up a ton of skin oil.

The next step is that Oly contacts are notoriously fiddly, and the end stops on the hot shoe are just as notoriously failure-prone. if they fail, the flash moves too far forward in the shoe, disconnecting one or more communication contacts.

Can you hear the larch pin engage when you mount the flash and turn the lock ring or lever (can't remember which Godox has) on the flash? If not, try gently sliding the flash forward and back. Is it locked in? Can you feel the pin drop?

Take a short wire and connect the flash's fire pin (the large pin in the center of the flash shoe, not the smaller data pins) to the ground contacts on either side of the grooves in the sides of the flash's shoe.

Yes, contact problems really are so epidemic that they're the first thing I check, even before settings. But now that we've got the mechanical stuff out of the way...

Make sure you've turned off any "silent" or "electronic shutter" modes. Those modes disable flash on virtually every brand of cameras.

Try getting together with a friend with the same brand equipment and trying their flash on your camera and your flash on theirs.

The issue is, that connecting the flash, doesn‘t actually limit the shutter speed anymore, it almost seems like the camera doesn’t recognize the flash anymore.

There's no "almost". Mount a zoom lens and zoom a bit: is the flash tracking the focal length changes? No? Then it's dead, Jim.

I use a Godox V350O and when i connect it to my camera i can still set the shutter speed to like 1/320. In focus bracketing it doesn‘t limit the shutter speed either and doesn‘t fire at all, while it does fire in single shot mode.

I‘ve tried every setting i could think of,

I hope this doesn't sound condescending, but have you updated the camera firmware since the last time you had your flash work properly? Oly is the king of proprietary, obfuscated data formats, and it's fairly common for firmware updates to break communication with 3rd party accessories.

Oh, and I would highly recommend asking this in the u43 or Oly forums. Flash isn't exclusive to macro: you'll find a lot more Oly users in other forums, and one may have better answers.

even resetted the camera and it didn‘t resolve my issue. Has someone encountered this before and can help me? It always worked just fine, i don‘t understand what‘s going on

How close are you to Livonia, Michigan?

Oh, and about your caption on your picture that you think you're going insane...

Embrace it. Sanity and art don't mix. Now, there are exceptions: for example, all of me are perfectly sane...

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The term "mirrorless" is totally obsolete. It's time we call out EVIL for what it is. (Or, if you can't handle "Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens" then Frenchify it and call it "LIVE" for "Lens Interchangeable, Viewfinder Electronic" or "Viseur électronique").
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Stanley Joseph Wisniewski 1932-2019.
Dad, so much of you is in me.
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Christine Fleischer 1947-2014.
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Rahon Klavanian 1912-2008.
Armenian genocide survivor, amazing cook, scrabble master, and loving grandmother. You will be missed.
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Ciao! Joseph
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