EM5 -have to reset date and time every time the battery is removed to charge

[trseattle]

I have to set the date and time after removing the battery to charge on my new EM5 every time. It won't remember the setting. All other settings stay as specified in memory. Anyone else encounter this issue?

 

[Detail Man]

If it does not take a charge with around 24 hours of a fully charged battery being placed in the camera (without the camera being turned on, which would discharge the battery), you will need to have it replaced.

In such a relatively new camera, it sounds as if the internal Li-Mn button-battery is defective. They (usually) can hold a charge for up to 90 days (even with no charging battery in the camera).

 

[SCR Johnson]

Had the same issue with mine. I had to send it in and Olympus replaced it. Turn around time was about a week.

 

[pdox]

No, that is not normal, have Olympus look at it. It says in the manual the date will reset to default if it's without a battery for more than 24 hours. But I have had the battery out of mine for 5 days in a row and the date was still retained. Yours clearly needs to be sent in to Olympus, may be an issue with the internal battery or may be something else.

I have to set the date and time after removing the battery to charge on my new EM5 every time. It won't remember the setting. All other settings stay as specified in memory. Anyone else encounter this issue?

 

[Detail Man]

No, that is not normal, have Olympus look at it. It says in the manual the date will reset to default if it's without a battery for more than 24 hours.

That sounds most unusual, indeed. I just searched throught the E-M5 Instruction Manual PDF that I have (no Edition/Revision Number is stated in the document), and I do not find such information.

What page did you find that information on ?

But I have had the battery out of mine for 5 days in a row and the date was still retained.

 

[Timbukto]

Yes, this happens with the Olympus E-PM1 a lot. It's amazing how this still occurs with the latest and greatest after knowing this is a known issue with Oly cameras...you'd figure whatever proprietary garbage way they have of using a cap or battery to store date/time...that they'd throw it away and use whatever other millions of electronic devices use to do the same exact thing.

 

[acahaya]

was with a brand new Panasonic video camera.
I guess they are using the same cheap crap as Oly

@TO: If the internal Battery doesn't load you need to have it replaced by Olympus.
--

http://www.acahaya.com

 

[pdox]

check page 99. "the camera settings will be returned to factory default settings blah blah blah for approximately 1 day"

No, that is not normal, have Olympus look at it. It says in the manual the date will reset to default if it's without a battery for more than 24 hours.

That sounds most unusual, indeed. I just searched throught the E-M5 Instruction Manual PDF that I have (no Edition/Revision Number is stated in the document), and I do not find such information.

What page did you find that information on ?

But I have had the battery out of mine for 5 days in a row and the date was still retained.

 

[Detail Man]

check page 99. "the camera settings will be returned to factory default settings blah blah blah for approximately 1 day"

Thanks, found it:

The date and time settings will be returned to the factory default settings if the camera is left without the battery for approximately 1 day. The settings will be cancelled more quickly if the battery was only loaded in the camera for a short time before being removed .

Amazing. This makes no sense at all (if) the E-M5 actually has an internal Li-Mn button-battery. They hold a charge for up to 90 days in Panasonic cameras. It is very likely that this is an indication that Olympus E-M5 uses a capacitor (only) - which discharges relatively quickly (by comparison).

That it nice from a repair standpoint (one less part to fail and require replacement after a number of years time) - but strikes me as rather a joke from a user standpoint. There are situations where one may not want to keep a battery in the camera. Have fun resetting date/time again and again.

To the OP : So, maybe your camera has a faulty charge-storing capacitor, and/or the clock circuitry is for some reason drawing an inordinate amount of current from the charge-storage capacitor. Capacitors (especially this type, with a fairly high value of capacitance) are the least reliable of all components in a camera (as compared to semiconductors, resistors, inductors, etc.) Good luck.

 

[pdox]

I've removed the batt from mine for 5 days straight and the date and time/settings were still retained.

Amazing. This makes no sense at all (if) the E-M5 actually has an internal Li-Mn button-battery. They hold a charge for up to 90 days in Panasonic cameras. It is very likely that this is an indication that Olympus E-M5 uses a capacitor (only) - which discharges relatively quickly (by comparison).

 

[Detail Man]

I've removed the batt from mine for 5 days straight and the date and time/settings were still retained.

Amazing. This makes no sense at all (if) the E-M5 actually has an internal Li-Mn button-battery. They hold a charge for up to 90 days in Panasonic cameras. It is very likely that this is an indication that Olympus E-M5 uses a capacitor (only) - which discharges relatively quickly (by comparison).

That's nice - but it only tells the OP that their's is not as nice. At any rate, it seems clear that the E-M5 very likely uses a charge-storage capacitor only - and not an internal Li-Mn button-battery.

 

[acahaya]

I'd not jump to conclusions because of one defective cam and a sentence in a manual, i'd simply rate as overly cautious.

I do not use my FT cams very often anymore and usualy store them with the battery removed. Time, date and mysets were OK on my E-5 after almost 2 months without battery. Time, date and mysets were OO on my E-M5 after 2 weeks (was on a business trip without cam).
--

http://www.acahaya.com

 

[MadsR]

I went to the shop and got a replacement.

Best bet is a faulty li-on solder or a faulty solder/faulty chip for the flash storage.

 

[reflected_light]

I'd say defective camera, and not a design error. And every manufacturer ships out a few that will have some sort of problem.

I've not had any issues with losing the date/time, when changing batteries.

But I have had a related experience, with regard to the internal batter...but in a good way.

Last weekend I was shooting BIF, in L multi-shot mode, and the battery died during writing to the card. When I replaced the battery, the buffer resumed dumping to the card and with no errors.

Yesterday, I was firing away again at those fleeting birdies and when I stopped and turned off the camera, it did not turn off. I thought I had my first problem with camera (after close to 10,000 shots) and pulled the battery to shut the camera down. But when I re-inserted the battery, it again resumed buffer to card writing and all was good.

--
r-l-p

http://www.pbase.com/reflectedlight

 

[Detail Man]

I'd say defective camera, and not a design error. And every manufacturer ships out a few that will have some sort of problem.

I've not had any issues with losing the date/time, when changing batteries.

But I have had a related experience, with regard to the internal batter...but in a good way.

Last weekend I was shooting BIF, in L multi-shot mode, and the battery died during writing to the card. When I replaced the battery, the buffer resumed dumping to the card and with no errors.

Yesterday, I was firing away again at those fleeting birdies and when I stopped and turned off the camera, it did not turn off. I thought I had my first problem with camera (after close to 10,000 shots) and pulled the battery to shut the camera down. But when I re-inserted the battery, it again resumed buffer to card writing and all was good.

How do you know that the cogent information that you were glad to see retained was not stored in (non-volatile) flash-memory in the camera? Internal Li-Mn button-batteries (I think) only supply the processor's clock circuit (in the absence of main battery power) - and (I think) are not necessary in order to maintain internal memory data.

If/when such internal batteries fail to power that clock circuit when the main battery is removed, the time/date data is (I think) reset by the system (which determines it to be invalid) on power-up

In the case of a camera design which may only use a high-valued capacitor (as opposed to a Li-Mn battery) to power the (very low current draw) processor clock circuitry, such capacitors should be able to retain a charge for a reasonable amount of time (24 hours would not surprise me at all).

 

[reflected_light]

No doubt the data was maintained by the flash memory in the camera, but what surprised me is that the camera remembered what it was doing, prior to the battery dying. That, I imagine, was due to the internal battery.

Maybe not...

...just happy that the camera didn't miss a beat.
--
r-l-p

http://www.pbase.com/reflectedlight

 

[tlwalton]

How do you know that the cogent information that you were glad to see retained was not stored in (non-volatile) flash-memory in the camera? Internal Li-Mn button-batteries (I think) only supply the processor's clock circuit (in the absence of main battery power) - and (I think) are not necessary in order to maintain internal memory data.

If/when such internal batteries fail to power that clock circuit when the main battery is removed, the time/date data is (I think) reset by the system (which determines it to be invalid) on power-up

In the case of a camera design which may only use a high-valued capacitor (as opposed to a Li-Mn battery) to power the (very low current draw) processor clock circuitry, such capacitors should be able to retain a charge for a reasonable amount of time (24 hours would not surprise me at all).

By now, you're speculating on an extrapolation of a surmise. It's time to call it a day.

 

[Detail Man]

How do you know that the cogent information that you were glad to see retained was not stored in (non-volatile) flash-memory in the camera? Internal Li-Mn button-batteries (I think) only supply the processor's clock circuit (in the absence of main battery power) - and (I think) are not necessary in order to maintain internal memory data.

Leaving such data at the mercy of an internal Li-Mn button-battery would be poor design practice.

If/when such internal batteries fail to power that clock circuit when the main battery is removed, the time/date data is (I think) reset by the system (which determines it to be invalid) on power-up

A system incapable of assessing whether the clock had continuously run would be unreliable.

In the case of a camera design which may only use a high-valued capacitor (as opposed to a Li-Mn battery) to power the (very low current draw) processor clock circuitry, such capacitors should be able to retain a charge for a reasonable amount of time (24 hours would not surprise me at all).

When the E-M5 Manual promises not more than 24 hours retention, you can bet it's a capacitor.

By now, you're speculating on an extrapolation of a surmise. It's time to call it a day.

Always enlightening to hear from armchair critics. So very deep. Anything else useless to say ?

 

[Franz Weber]

Hi,

i had the very same issue with my OMD the during the first three days after I bought it in April.

I found out, that I left the charged main-battery for too short time inside the camera during the first days. (I was unpatient and did not charge the main battery to its full extend before shooting. And so I had to recharge it more often than normal. Silly me!) So I assume the main battery could not charge the internal battery for time/date sufficiently.

But after the fully charged battery had been in place for some time the issue disappeared. And I have not discovered this problem ever since.

Good luck with your OMD
Franz
--
allways look on the bright side of live!

 

[sigala1]

Hi,

i had the very same issue with my OMD the during the first three days after I bought it in April.

I found out, that I left the charged main-battery for too short time inside the camera during the first days. (I was unpatient and did not charge the main battery to its full extend before shooting. And so I had to recharge it more often than normal. Silly me!) So I assume the main battery could not charge the internal battery for time/date sufficiently.

But after the fully charged battery had been in place for some time the issue disappeared. And I have not discovered this problem ever since.

It happened the second day I had the camera, but hasn't happened since then.