FAILURE !!

Two Great Blue Herons on a cold winter's day. (click to enlarge)
This is the next to the last image before my camera died.  The last image was severely underexposed.
Olympus E-M1 Mark II; 300mm f/4 PRO lens + MC-14 1.4X tele-converter; 1/500th sec. @ f/10; ISO 250

As good as digital cameras are today, failures can still occur.  That's what happened to me last Thursday.  My camera died right in my hands.

It was a beautiful winter day and I wanted to get out and photograph.  I have been largely confined to my home due to my recent cataract surgeries so I was looking for an excuse to go out and photograph.  It didn't matter what, I just wanted to get out and make some images.  That always energizes me.  I grabbed my Olympus E-M1 Mark II and a couple of lenses and headed out the door.

After a bit I ended up at a local pond.  I thought there may be some waterfowl or other fish eating birds present.  Unfortunately, the only birds I spotted were a small group of Great Blue Herons, a few Canada geese and a couple of Mallard ducks.  Although there was nothing remarkable to photograph, I would take the opportunity to practice my long lens handholding technique since I'm a little rusty.  Never waste an opportunity.

I pulled out the Olympus E-M 1.2, attached the 300mm f/4 PRO lens and the MC-14 1.4X tele-converter then, from my car, started photographing the group of herons.  Herons are easily scared off so I knew from previous times, that if I left the car, them may fly away.  Over the course of about 10 minutes, I made 25 images.  Just practice, as I said.  As the 26th was being made the camera's EVF and LCD went black and the camera shut down.  Nothing.  I was certainly caught by surprise!

I baby my gear.  I always have.  I appreciate having such good photographic tools (I baby all my possessions) and I take care of them.  When I sell gear, it is still like new.  This camera still looks new.  Why would it just fail unexpectedly?

First things first.  Did the battery run out of power?  There was no way to tell by looking at the camera as the LCD, which displays not only the Super Control Panel with all the settings, it also displays battery level.  There is no top LCD so I had no way of knowing.  Since I was carrying a couple of spare batteries, I removed the battery in the camera and replaced it with each of the others.  Nothing.

Okay.  Maybe it is something with the lens/camera connection.  I removed the lens and attached another.  Nothing.

Not much else I could do at that point so I decided to drive home.  At home, I took the lens off the camera and looked inside at the sensor area and immediately noticed that the mechanical shutter was closed in front of the sensor.  That explains why the EVF and LCD were black.  I turned the camera on and saw the shutter actuate then return to the "down" position.  It did this each time I cycled the camera on.

I did a little research online and saw plenty of forum conversations where other Olympus owners have had this same issue.  Whatever it is, it didn't just happen to me.  Evidently, Olympus has an issue where something, either mechanical or electronic, is malfunctioning.

Oh well.  It is what it is.  I went online, filled out the paperwork and the camera is currently on its way to Olympus America in South Hackensack, New Jersey.  From what I found on Olympus' site, they have one charge for any repair.  They also reserve the right to send back a refurbished camera if the malfunctioning camera's repair is too expensive or complex.  I hope I get my original camera back.  I have only 22,208 shutter actuations, which I think, is relatively few and the camera has a lot of life left in it.  What I didn't want to have to do is buy a replacement camera.  

I've owned quite a few digital cameras.  I've owned and used Olympus digital cameras since May, 2012.  I've never had a digital camera failure.  The only film camera failures I've ever experienced was the common problem of the film advance being jammed.  Other than that, in 50 years, cameras have served me well.  Probably because I take care of my gear.  Maybe a little luck thrown in there as well.

When I get my camera back I'll post an update and let you know what caused the failure if Olympus will reveal the cause to me.

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Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

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