Just bought a used Pen EP5. How careful do I have to be when using it?

Hi all,

after much research and consultation, I'd decided to buy a used Pen EP5 (for about 300$) for my first (own) camera (details below for those who need it). But it's my first camera, and the Philippines does not have licensed oly repair centers here. I originally wanted something I would kind of.. "use and abuse" (only in the sense that i would bring it around with me and use it as often as possible so I can learn quickly). I'm a little worried that the front and back clicking dials won't take that kind of abuse. Especially for those with the Oly pen series, how are they so far in terms of long-term, full manual use? Is there anything I should be worried about/should consider?

Buying details:

I bought it from a camera collector. It's in great condition, no scratches or anything at all. Even when the seller was handling the unit to help me test and check it, he was obviously very meticulous about caring for it (he seems late in his age- that type. Has been collecting for over 20 years, 50 film cameras and 6 or 7 digital cameras in arsenal with all the collector's knowledge and everything). He said he's never had problems with olympus cameras- but he also suggested avoiding full manual use and switching lenses often to keep the parts intact. In other words, it sounded a little like his cameras last so long in such great condition- because he's super super careful with them... Which I don't really want holding me back.

Much appreciated, thanks!

The EP5 is a great camera and generally well built.  The biggest issue some have experienced is control dial failures, and I'm not aware of anything you can do to prevent that.  The good news is that if control dials fail, you can still use rear dial to change shutter speed and aperture the same way it was done on the old EPM1 (if I recall correctly).

Enjoy your new camera, it is a very capable device.

Don't be afraid to use it.  Pay attention to the obvious things.  More repairs are caused by abuse than use.   Don't drop it, don't spill your drink on it, keep it out of the water.  Changing lenses several times a day is no big deal at all, if your not an impatient ham-fist.  Learn where the dots on lens and body are so lens fits in easily.  i.e. don't shove and then turn till it drops in.  Learn a gentle touch with the switches and dials.  The internal switch parts are a bit delicate in all cameras.

If you end up with a long heavy lens - carry the lens or at least keep one hand on lens

Don't clean the lens every time you get one speck of dust.

Collectable cameras value is almost 100% based on appearance, so they are paranoid.  You bought is to take pictures, so go ahead.

Olympus cameras generally are made to take some abuse, but you do want to be sensible about things like rain, dropping the camera, etc.

Note, since the E-P5 was announced in 2013, and Olympus generally only makes cameras in one batch before moving on to the next camera, that means your batteries are probably 4 years old at this point.  You might want to start thinking about buying new batteries, as 3-4 years is when lithium ion batteries start losing capacity.

Now in terms of batteries, Olympus changed the BLS battery over its lifetime.  The original BLS battery and charger had to be redesigned to meet a new law in Japan (where chargers turn themselves off once the battery is charged).  New BLS-5/BLS-50 batteries are gray, and the charger is gray.  Old BLS-1 batteries are black and the charger is black (the current BLS-50 is like the BLS-5, except it has more capacity).  You can use either the BLS-1 or BLS-5/BLS-50 battery in the camera, but you can only charge BLS-1 batteries in the BCM-1 charger, and BLS-5/BLS-50 batteries in the BCM-5 charger.  I think 2013 is around the period after Olympus had switched batteries but had to switch back in non-Japan countries because an earthquake knocked out their battery production facility.

That means if you have the black charger, and you want to get a new Olympus battery, you will probably need to pick up a new charger as well.

There are third party batteries that are much cheaper than Olympus's batteries.  A lot of these batteries are junk, but there are some good ones.  I used to like Wasabi batteries, and my Wasabi BLS-5 clone batteries lasted for a few years.  But my newer BLN-1 clone batteries from Wasabi had to be replaced within a year of purchase, and my older BLS-5 clone batteries also have had to be replaced.  But perhaps there are other brands that people like.  I use Watson batteries now, but you can only find them in a few places like B&H, and you would want to find a local supplier to cut down on shipping charges.

Use it as you need because you bought it to take pictures so take pictures.

wolfychi wrote:

I am an EP-5 user for 3 years now, both my front and rear dial eventually failed after 2 years, luckily I got them fixed by Olympus in Bangkok very cheaply, about $30USD, and working fine ever since.

Even when the dials were not functioning, I still manage to use it in manual mode by using the arrow buttons on the back, the up down left right keys all can be used instead of the dials, you can see the indication on the display for where to press to adjust aperture or shutter speed.

hi this is great news. how did you go about having it fixed? thanks.

Michael Meissner wrote:

Olympus cameras generally are made to take some abuse, but you do want to be sensible about things like rain, dropping the camera, etc.

Note, since the E-P5 was announced in 2013, and Olympus generally only makes cameras in one batch before moving on to the next camera, that means your batteries are probably 4 years old at this point. You might want to start thinking about buying new batteries, as 3-4 years is when lithium ion batteries start losing capacity.

Now in terms of batteries, Olympus changed the BLS battery over its lifetime. The original BLS battery and charger had to be redesigned to meet a new law in Japan (where chargers turn themselves off once the battery is charged). New BLS-5/BLS-50 batteries are gray, and the charger is gray. Old BLS-1 batteries are black and the charger is black (the current BLS-50 is like the BLS-5, except it has more capacity). You can use either the BLS-1 or BLS-5/BLS-50 battery in the camera, but you can only charge BLS-1 batteries in the BCM-1 charger, and BLS-5/BLS-50 batteries in the BCM-5 charger. I think 2013 is around the period after Olympus had switched batteries but had to switch back in non-Japan countries because an earthquake knocked out their battery production facility.

That means if you have the black charger, and you want to get a new Olympus battery, you will probably need to pick up a new charger as well.

There are third party batteries that are much cheaper than Olympus's batteries. A lot of these batteries are junk, but there are some good ones. I used to like Wasabi batteries, and my Wasabi BLS-5 clone batteries lasted for a few years. But my newer BLN-1 clone batteries from Wasabi had to be replaced within a year of purchase, and my older BLS-5 clone batteries also have had to be replaced. But perhaps there are other brands that people like. I use Watson batteries now, but you can only find them in a few places like B&H, and you would want to find a local supplier to cut down on shipping charges.

Thanks for your advice, I will definitely look into it. It looks like wasabi is pretty popular in the camera communities here in the Philippines, so I'll have to budget it and see.

KCK14 wrote:

Don't be afraid to use it. Pay attention to the obvious things. More repairs are caused by abuse than use. Don't drop it, don't spill your drink on it, keep it out of the water. Changing lenses several times a day is no big deal at all, if your not an impatient ham-fist. Learn where the dots on lens and body are so lens fits in easily. i.e. don't shove and then turn till it drops in. Learn a gentle touch with the switches and dials. The internal switch parts are a bit delicate in all cameras.

If you end up with a long heavy lens - carry the lens or at least keep one hand on lens

Don't clean the lens every time you get one speck of dust.

Collectable cameras value is almost 100% based on appearance, so they are paranoid. You bought is to take pictures, so go ahead.

Yes, I will definitely avoid that kind of camera abuse. It was really more of constant use of the dials and lens switching that worried me.

Mike Loanzon wrote:

Hi all,

after much research and consultation, I'd decided to buy a used Pen EP5 (for about 300$) for my first (own) camera (details below for those who need it). But it's my first camera, and the Philippines does not have licensed oly repair centers here. I originally wanted something I would kind of.. "use and abuse" (only in the sense that i would bring it around with me and use it as often as possible so I can learn quickly). I'm a little worried that the front and back clicking dials won't take that kind of abuse. Especially for those with the Oly pen series, how are they so far in terms of long-term, full manual use? Is there anything I should be worried about/should consider?

Buying details:

I bought it from a camera collector. It's in great condition, no scratches or anything at all. Even when the seller was handling the unit to help me test and check it, he was obviously very meticulous about caring for it (he seems late in his age- that type. Has been collecting for over 20 years, 50 film cameras and 6 or 7 digital cameras in arsenal with all the collector's knowledge and everything). He said he's never had problems with olympus cameras- but he also suggested avoiding full manual use and switching lenses often to keep the parts intact. In other words, it sounded a little like his cameras last so long in such great condition- because he's super super careful with them... Which I don't really want holding me back.

Much appreciated, thanks!

I'm a full time EP-5 user. Its agreat camera. As others have said the dials are the issue. Alas I have never found a third party fix for this so it will be back to Olympus if these fail.

I also broke the screen and my second one is cracking but then again I've been using it in situations where I probably could have done with something more rugged. Do get yourself a screen protector. One that lets you still use it as a touch screen.

PW M43 wrote:

Michael Meissner wrote:

That means if you have the black charger, and you want to get a new Olympus battery, you will probably need to pick up a new charger as well.

AFAIK you can charge the BLS-5 battery in the old charger, but not the older batteries in the new charger (it expects an additional contact on the battery). You have to admire Olympus for making a new safety law morph into a series of forced purchases.

I'm not sure Olympus had much of an option on this, given it needed the extra contract pin to indicate battery state.

At least, Olympus made the BLS-5 backward compatible with the BLS-1 (and similarly for the BLM-5 and BLM-1 in the E-1/E-3/E-5/E-30/E-5xx DSLRs) so that you could use either BLS-5 or BLS-1 battery in the camera.  Some camera manufacturers seemed to change battery formats with every new model.