A warning to E-M1 users

I have been following this issue for a few weeks and as I understand it, Olympus has confirmed that even a fairly brief exposure of the EVF eyepiece to direct sun will result in damage to the EVF in the form of one or more colored spots or “blobs” visible within the viewfinder. It is only correctable by sending the camera in for repair.

It does not show up in images nor is the monitor screen susceptible I guess, but I am of the impression that this is not necessarily limited to just the E-M1.

So you may wish to take precautions when carrying or leaving the EM-1 anyplace where the viewfinder may be exposed to direct sun.

I have no idea if this issue is mitigated by the use of a housing, but it would seem unlikely. I don't know whether it is affected by either the camera or the viewfinder being on or off. I suspect it is not an inexpensive repair.

Here are a couple of links if you want to read more:

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/53792415

http://www.mu-43.com/showthread.php?t=64334

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/52857656

Disclaimer: I am repeating what I have read elsewhere; I have no experience with this issue and have not had any communications with Olympus.

Draq,

Very interesting....

Quite a while back a very similar "sunburn" happened to my viewfinder, only this was in the Galapagos, and it was a Sony PD-150 in an Amphibico housing. Expensive fix.

I thought at the time it was during a short ride when the housing was on the floor of the Zodiac, going to a dive site. The housing had a sort of magnifier on the viewfinder which I still think made the burn happen much quicker.

After the repair I searched out and put a small rubber cup over the eyepiece whenever the thing was topside. Never repeated the problem.

Amphibico, alas, had "never heard of the problem" and didn't have any cover available for the viewfinder.

I think it is a good precaution to take to cover the eyepiece on any rig.

Thanks for the reminder!

Tom

This did not seem to generate much interest here, but to update; one of the folks who reported this issue received a response from Olympus. The response, translated from German is:

After consulting with our colleagues and several other departments I have received the following information.

This phenomenon occurs due to direct sunshine into the finder, which effectuates a magnifying effect . It can happen when the camera is turned on or turned off.

At this point in time we can only recommend to avoid direct sunshine upon the camera (or actually

upon the EVF), to prevent the problem from occurring .

I hope to have answered your question, and wish you a nice weekend. "

Thanks for the warning , will keep this in mind and turn the viewfinder down !

Frank