OM-5 Mark II: how can I change the menu language from Japanese to English?

jalywol said:

Funny thing about that:
I bought an S9 last year, and ended up with an imported model simply because it was the only way, at the time, I could get it in a kit with the 28-200mm (which I really wanted). And, as a bonus, the two-tone silver and black was also only available as an import, so that's the set up I got. (They do sell the S9 with the 28-200mm as a kit now, in the US, but still no silver/black, so I'm good with having done it this way).

The camera did come set to Japanese, but there were also (limited) other language options available (4 Asian language options plus English) (if you could figure out how to get to the selection page ) . Apparently the Japanese market S5II, from what I have read, also has one English option. No other Western languages, though, just English.

This is actually a big change for Panasonic. I do wonder if all of their bodies going forward will continue with this, or it was just a short experiment....

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Panasonic used to be far more restrictive about language selection, and frame rate selection, and giving each of their cameras three different names depending on region, and sometimes different color schemes depending on region. They have become less restrictive lately, so the 59 is actually better than older cameras.

Olympus and OMDS used to be very open, so the OM-5 II being harshly restricted came as a surprise.

Todd Yes said:

jalywol said:

Funny thing about that:
I bought an S9 last year, and ended up with an imported model simply because it was the only way, at the time, I could get it in a kit with the 28-200mm (which I really wanted). And, as a bonus, the two-tone silver and black was also only available as an import, so that's the set up I got. (They do sell the S9 with the 28-200mm as a kit now, in the US, but still no silver/black, so I'm good with having done it this way).

The camera did come set to Japanese, but there were also (limited) other language options available (4 Asian language options plus English) (if you could figure out how to get to the selection page ) . Apparently the Japanese market S5II, from what I have read, also has one English option. No other Western languages, though, just English.

This is actually a big change for Panasonic. I do wonder if all of their bodies going forward will continue with this, or it was just a short experiment....

Click to expand...

Panasonic used to be far more restrictive about language selection, and frame rate selection, and giving each of their cameras three different names depending on region, and sometimes different color schemes depending on region. They have become less restrictive lately, so the 59 is actually better than older cameras.

Click to expand...

Yes, I am aware of that, which is why I commented. I would never have bought an imported Panasonic body if it still had no direct way of selecting English in the menus. The S9 was apparently the first one that they added that option in for.

Todd Yes said:

Olympus and OMDS used to be very open, so the OM-5 II being harshly restricted came as a surprise.

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I wonder if it has to do with their profit margins on US vs Asian sales. I can understand them not wanting to leak any potential profit out...Whereas with Panasonic, they have versions of their models that are not available outside of Japan or other Asian markets, so maybe they figure sales of those would not actually be in direct competition with the sales of other versions sold in the US. Dunno.

-J

jalywol said:

I wonder if it has to do with their profit margins on US vs Asian sales. I can understand them not wanting to leak any potential profit out...Whereas with Panasonic, they have versions of their models that are not available outside of Japan or other Asian markets, so maybe they figure sales of those would not actually be in direct competition with the sales of other versions sold in the US. Dunno.

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White it's a big part, it's not only about profits: it's that Panasonic Holdings Corporation of Japan has contracts with Panasonic Corporation of North America, which has contracts with retailers, and they don't want that to all come crashing down.

I live in Japan, have for 54 years, and have been buying Olympus cameras and equipment since 1974, and have heavily invested in the system. I have been buying their M43 cameras since their initial OM-D EM-5, and had no problems with any of their cameras or lenses all this time.

Until the Om-System OM-5 Mark II. Without thinking much about it, since I'd bought so many of their products over the years, I went on the English version of Amazon Japan, and simply ordered the OM-5 Mark II, body only, Beige version, thinking it would be mostly the same experience as the Olympus OM-D EM-5 Mark III I ordered last year. The first time I ordered, I waited four weeks, and never got a message from Amazon telling me when it would ship. I scoured the Internet looking for answers, learned that the beige version was experiencing significant delays, even here in Japan. I called Amazon and was reassured by the representative that the camera would arrive by September 18. The date came and went. When even after few days it still didn't arrive, I cancelled the order, and reordered the beige body through Obayashi Camera in Amazon. This time the camera arrived within two days, and I happily received the package.

Upon opening the box, though, and trying to set up the settings, I discovered that the language option was greyed out to "Japanese-only", with no option to choose anything else. Frantic, I again went online and scoured the Internet for answers. I discovered this thread and several others, all non-Japanese-speaking customers who bought the camera in Japan saying the same thing: there was no option to change the language. I contacted Obayashi Camera, and they confirmed that models sold in Japan were permanently set to "Japanese" only. They sent me several pdf's of OM System's announcement of the Japanese-only policy on their cameras sold in Japan on their press release and homepage. The problem is that I bought my camera through the Amazon Japan's English page, where there was no mention of the Japanese-only restriction. When I told Obayashi Camera that I wanted to return the camera for a full refund, citing that I had not had the required information when looking at the page, they told me that I could only get a 50% refund. Angry, I sent them a PDF of the English page from when I purchased the camera. They said they needed time to talk to Amazon. Amazon wrote them back, saying they needed time to change the English page to reflect the new policy. Amazon did finally agree to let me return the camera for a full refund.

In the meantime I again took to the Internet to see if there was anything further I could do. I looked at online camera shops outside Japan, to see if I could order an international model. Beside the prices being significantly higher because of the terrible exchange rate with Japan, and the exorbitant shipping fees, there was also the region locked restriction that didn't allow them to ship non-Japanese models to Japan. So ordering from outside Japan was impossible.

Which got me really angry... Basically OM System was forcing me to use a Japanese-language-only model, just because I live in Japan, without the option to use any other language, not even ordering from overseas. This had never happened with any Olympus digital camera I had ever bought before. I immediately contacted OM System to complain about this issues, and basically they shut me down with a very curt and dismissive letter, simply stating that I cannot purchase an international version of the camera in Japan, and that they had no plans to offer any service to change the language (a Nikon representative in Yodobashi Camera in Osaka, who tried to help me with my inquiries about the OM-5 Mark II, since the OM System representatives were on holiday, told me that Nikon had immediately responded to customers asking for an option to switch their menus to another language by offering a special service to do this), or any plans to change the menu system in the future. They did, with false concern, tell me they would share my email internally, to address my concerns, but I doubt anything is going to happen, especially with e strong ant-foreigner sentiment growing in Japan at the moment.

Since I have no options to get this camera any other way, and it is the camera I had been most waiting for for my ultralight mountain walking, I've decided to swallow my pride and keep the camera. I'll just have to slog through the menus until I set it up the way I want, and hopefully be able to function with it in the field (I speak fluent Japanese, but reading is a lot more cumbersome). However, I will never buy an OM System product again, and I'll either switch to Panasonic, or else change my entire (very expensive) system to Fuji Film. OM System's attitude is appalling, petty, and borderline racist (I understand about the gray market concern, but that is no excuse to penalize foreign residents). I just never thought it would happen with my beloved Olympus cameras, that I've been using for 51 years!

Breadth_of_Field said:

I will never buy an OM System product again, and I'll either switch to Panasonic,

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Be careful, all of Panasonic's early m43 cameras sold in Japan, for the first 10 years at least, are all locked to Japanese, though there are some hacks to change it on many models. Their current models allow any language to be set, but I wouldn't be surprised if their next model switches back to be locked, so be sure to check before buying.

Todd Yes said:

Breadth_of_Field said:

I will never buy an OM System product again, and I'll either switch to Panasonic,

Click to expand...

Be careful, all of Panasonic's early m43 cameras sold in Japan, for the first 10 years at least, are all locked to Japanese, though there are some hacks to change it on many models. Their current models allow any language to be set, but I wouldn't be surprised if their next model switches back to be locked, so be sure to check before buying.

Click to expand...

I never even considered a Japanese Panasonic import because of this, in past, but when I bought my S9, I did go grey market (from a US seller) simply because it was the only way I could get the kit with the 28-200mm at the time. (As an added bonus, it was the silver and black color, which was also not available anywhere else).

It does, indeed, have an English language option. However, English is the ONLY non-Asian language available, so if you speak,say, German, French, Arabic, whatever, other than that, you won't have any options like you would on the non-Japanese version.

I have no idea what Panasonic will do on future models, of course, so checking first would be providential, before you buy.

-J

Breadth_of_Field said:

I live in Japan, have for 54 years

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You lived in Japan for 54 years and never learnt the language?

I'd be annoyed if say, I got a DJI drone for cheap and the app was only in Chinese, but I'd adapt. Certainly won't boycott them.

yslee2 said:

Breadth_of_Field said:

I live in Japan, have for 54 years

Click to expand...

You lived in Japan for 54 years and never learnt the language?

I'd be annoyed if say, I got a DJI drone for cheap and the app was only in Chinese, but I'd adapt. Certainly won't boycott them.

Click to expand...

Did you miss "(I speak fluent Japanese, but reading is a lot more cumbersome)."?

Snapsh0t said:

Did you miss "(I speak fluent Japanese, but reading is a lot more cumbersome)."?

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I did, my bad, but 54 years is also a long time to live in a place and not be functionally literate. I drew my analogy in my message; it's annoying but not worth boycotting and having a fit to write walls of text over.

Todd Yes said:

Breadth_of_Field said:

I will never buy an OM System product again, and I'll either switch to Panasonic,

Click to expand...

Be careful, all of Panasonic's early m43 cameras sold in Japan, for the first 10 years at least, are all locked to Japanese, though there are some hacks to change it on many models. Their current models allow any language to be set, but I wouldn't be surprised if their next model switches back to be locked, so be sure to check before buying.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the warning. I hadn't realized that Panasonic was following the same policy. Good to know.

yslee2 said:

Breadth_of_Field said:

I live in Japan, have for 54 years

Click to expand...

You lived in Japan for 54 years and never learnt the language?

I'd be annoyed if say, I got a DJI drone for cheap and the app was only in Chinese, but I'd adapt. Certainly won't boycott them.

Click to expand...

As I wrote in my original comment, I speak fluent Japanese, but struggle with reading. If you know anything about Japanese writing, you would know how complicated it is. Even Japanese natives forget kanji characters when they live abroad for a long time. I have no problem with the two other writing systems that Japanese uses. It is the kanji that is really hard, and I study it every day. (I love the Japanese language)

I boycott OM System because they refuse to acknowledge that a sizable population of permanent residents live in Japan, and OM System is refusing to make it easier for them, especially in banning them from buying international models from abroad. I mean, almost all other camera manufacturers here accommodate them. You even see romanized and English (and Chinese, Korean, Portuguese) signs all over the train system throughout the country here. Why not give non-Japanese people who live in Japan the option to use their own language when buying a camera? Especially since a camera is a very personal tool. Why make it so difficult? It's no extra burden or expense for them; they already have the other languages built in the software. Not to mention that the physical signage on the cameras already are in the universal language of English, so they themselves acknowledge that their cameras need to be accessible to a broad range of people. Knowing Japanese people and their very uneasy relationship with foreigners, and especially the strong anti-foreigner sentiment growing right now, it is a point of contention for me, having grown up here and am part of the country. Not only that, but having used the Olympus cameras all my life, to now suddenly be unable to easily use one of their cameras in a system I have heavily invested in, seems like disrespect for their customers.

yslee2 said:

Snapsh0t said:

Did you miss "(I speak fluent Japanese, but reading is a lot more cumbersome)."?

Click to expand...

I did, my bad, but 54 years is also a long time to live in a place and not be functionally literate. I drew my analogy in my message; it's annoying but not worth boycotting and having a fit to write walls of text over.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I did write a long "wall", didn't I. I guess I should apologize for that, but really, you didn't have to read it. (I have a feeling you didn't finish it, am I right?)

Well, I'd just spent a week going back and forth with OM System (in written Japanese, no less!), with nothing but formulaic replies, and overly polite stonewalling. They never really answered any questions, but treated me like I was being annoying for even bringing up the question about changing the language. Needless to say, very frustrating. I just wanted to tell the story of how OM System in Japan treats their customers.

What's funny, is that when I went to the main Yodobashi Electronics store in Osaka, to try to speak directly to an OM System representative, the OM System staff was on vacation. A Nikon representative approached me as I wandered around the OM System booth area, and asked me if I needed any help. He spent the next 30 minutes asking around for the OM System staff, and when he couldn't find them, sat down with me to go over my inquiries and try to help me find a solution. He was shocked that OM System didn't offer a program to help change the menu language, as Nikon did. He was a Nikon representative, not OM System! And yet he treated me with respect and concern! That's all I asked from OM System.

Breadth_of_Field said:

yslee2 said:

Snapsh0t said:

Did you miss "(I speak fluent Japanese, but reading is a lot more cumbersome)."?

Click to expand...

I did, my bad, but 54 years is also a long time to live in a place and not be functionally literate. I drew my analogy in my message; it's annoying but not worth boycotting and having a fit to write walls of text over.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I did write a long "wall", didn't I. I guess I should apologize for that, but really, you didn't have to read it. (I have a feeling you didn't finish it, am I right?)

Well, I'd just spent a week going back and forth with OM System (in written Japanese, no less!), with nothing but formulaic replies, and overly polite stonewalling. They never really answered any questions, but treated me like I was being annoying for even bringing up the question about changing the language. Needless to say, very frustrating. I just wanted to tell the story of how OM System in Japan treats their customers.

What's funny, is that when I went to the main Yodobashi Electronics store in Osaka, to try to speak directly to an OM System representative, the OM System staff was on vacation. A Nikon representative approached me as I wandered around the OM System booth area, and asked me if I needed any help. He spent the next 30 minutes asking around for the OM System staff, and when he couldn't find them, sat down with me to go over my inquiries and try to help me find a solution. He was shocked that OM System didn't offer a program to help change the menu language, as Nikon did. He was a Nikon representative, not OM System! And yet he treated me with respect and concern! That's all I asked from OM System.

Click to expand...

Typical Japanese customer service. I experienced the same sh*t when warrantying my decentered 150-400 lens. I've never dealt with such incompetency before.