Olympus E-P5 started consistently overexposing photos in full sunlight... help?

Hi everyone!

I bought a used Olympus E-P5 a couple years ago and it's served me just fine until recently. I'm a baginner/casual photographer, and I mainly shoot in P (because I like to change the white balance).

A few months ago the camera started overexposing photos in full sunlight to a level I'd never seen before...see below

Specs for this photo:
f/9
1/400
ISO 200
No exposure bias (0)
Metering mode: digital esp metering

The photos become halfway decent when i set the exposure compensation somewhere around -7...

Compare the before and after photos below:

Specs for photo 1:
f/9
1/400
ISO 200
No exposure bias (0)
Metering mode: digital esp metering

Specs for photo 2:
f/9
1/500
ISO 200
exposure -0.7
Metering mode: digital esp metering

Shooting in iAuto doesn't make a difference. Weirder still, sometimes turning the camera on and off will solve the issue. Sometimes it doesn't. I already tried a full reset to no avail. It seems to be getting worse (?).
Did I accidentally mess up something? Is my camera broken? I'm quite fond of it and don't have the budget to buy a new one :/
Thank you in advance to anyone who can give some advice!
Simona

Try going into A [Aperture priority] mode, and shooting at your lens' widest aperture.

I suspect the internal "blades" inside the lens aren't closing down consistently - either going wrong mechanically, or maybe due to an electrical fault (perhaps a poor or broken connection re the ribbon cable inside the lens?)

Alternatively, do you have another lens, or a friend with one, with which you could try shooting "normally"?

Peter

Isola Verde wrote:

Try going into A [Aperture priority] mode, and shooting at your lens' widest aperture.

I suspect the internal "blades" inside the lens aren't closing down consistently - either going wrong mechanically, or maybe due to an electrical fault (perhaps a poor or broken connection re the ribbon cable inside the lens?)

Alternatively, do you have another lens, or a friend with one, with which you could try shooting "normally"?

Peter

Yes, I second that.  Try a different lens to at least eliminate that as the problem.

Atho wrote:

Seems like an SD card failure to me.

Interesting, I’m finding my EM10ii appears to be overexposing lately. Hadn’t considered this as a solution.

Atho wrote:

Seems like an SD card failure to me.

How would you conclude that it's the SD card?  Not challenging, just curious as to the logic?

I got an over-exposure problem with my SH-2 pocket zoom, with data retained similar to yours, when the mechanical shutter was failing, after one heavy summer shower too many.

The same SH-2 pocket zoom exposed stills correctly during video, when the electronic shutter was used.

Can you do exposures with mechanical and electronic shutter of the same scene?

Henry

Did you see the same lightness condition in Live View? If so, it should have told you the in-camera metering had been fooled by the scene (very often) and at that point, we should adjust the setting until the Live View looking good to us.

BTW, avoid to use slower than f/8 on M43 since diffraction might soften your image. I shall use f/9 etc only for specific requirement.

I would try with A mode, set the f/stop (usually wide open or a stop stopping down) to the sharpness of your lens (check reviews), and let the camera to set shutter speed and ISO for you. Use Exposure Compensation to adjust the lightness until it looks good to you. You can have far more control on the setting for a result you are happy with.

My 2 cents.

Atho wrote:

Seems like an SD card failure to me.

What !.  Would you care to justify that statement ?.

I had a similar issue with my E-m1 mark I when I shot with high telephoto lenses. What was happening was the shutter was sticking when you got to the faster speeds. So while the camera thought it was keeping the shutter open for 1/500 of a second, it actually was keeping it open for something like 1/125 second, which lets in a lot more light.

The reason I only saw it at high telephoto is that I shoot in P-mode, and when I shoot at 300mm focal length, the camera tries to raise the shutter speed to at least 1/600. I imagine if I was shooting in very bright light, I would have seen it with my wide angle lenses.

Fortunately, I had purchased the extended warranty and Olympus fixed it for free. Since the E-P5 was announced in 2013, I suspect if you send it in, that Olympus will say it is too old. There might be an independent repair shop that would fix it, but I suspect it would probably be cheaper to buy a newer camera on the used market.

Henry Falkner wrote:

Can you do exposures with mechanical and electronic shutter of the same scene?

I believe the E-P5 came out before Olympus started offering electronic shutter (that Olympus calls silent mode).

Michael Meissner wrote:

Henry Falkner wrote:

Can you do exposures with mechanical and electronic shutter of the same scene?

I believe the E-P5 came out before Olympus started offering electronic shutter (that Olympus calls silent mode).

Thanks for the clarification. I should have kept my trap shut on this one.

Henry