Olympus OM-D E-M5 II opinions?

[Warmwater Wank]

I think you can't replicate it because you are not under 25 meters of water pressure. What you are describing is a not unusual occurrence if, as Chris mentioned, you have a weak return spring or a shaft in need of a drop of silicone. If you're lucky. The other possibility is the effects of pressure on the housing itself. Even a slight bowing that would not cause a leak can cause added friction on a shaft.

Camera buttons do strange things if partially depressed or not allowed to fully release. I encountered this often with an old polycarbonate housing for a Canon G-10. I could never hold the housing buttons just right and get it to lockup above water and it didn't happen every dive. (Just when I REALLY needed it the most!) If you have never encountered any video probs above water it's safe to assume it's a housing issue.

Did you say you tried re-assigning the video release to another button? There could be a slight alignment problem at depth that causes a camera button to not be pressed squarely by the shaft pad. I have no experience with the Meikon housings but you might do an online search and see if others have encountered this problem. And maybe put a drop or two of liquid silicone on those housing shafts just for ducks. // ww

 

[npole]

Ye, what I mean is that if a button (or multiple buttons) are being pressed/half pressed due to the pressure or such.. shouldn't I be able to replicate the same issue with no camera case at all, by pressing this buttons (or a combination) myself?
So far I didn't found any button that pressed (or half pressed.. or not being able to be fully depressed) would end in a such behavior.
At this point I believe I have to (temporary) remove all the buttons of the case except the trigger and the video button and see if the problem remains.

 

[Warmwater Wank]

You can't do with your hands what the housing is doing when under 25 meters of water pressure. I'm suggesting you are getting some sort of housing flex at depth that affects the camera operation, whether that means causing a shaft to slightly stick or a torque in the housing that ever so slightly is moving a pad out of position or maybe the combination. Replicating that above water may not be possible.

If you re-assign buttons and the problem goes elsewhere it should let you pin it down but obviously you would need to get back down below 25m to find out. Meanwhile maybe another thread (on SB, Wetpixel etc.) to see if the problem has been encountered before? I dunno about removing buttons though. Just sayin'. // ww

 

[npole]

If the pressure is pushing buttons, you can surely replicating it on surface... without the housing.
If the pressure is doing something else (like flexing the body), no "fix" to the housing buttons would help.
In each case I'm stuck.
I still find it pretty odd that I can operate all the camera functions (taking picture, navigate menu, changing settings) everything but recording videos (or putting the camera in video mode).
I tried to search on other forums for a similar behavior, I found nothing, I also contacted Meikon they said they will investigate with their techs ...but I'm not much confident.

 

[Chris Ross]

You may not be able to replicate on land, there's lots of buttons on an EM-5 II and it may be a particular combination I still think check the housing to see if any button doen't "behave" right - at least that is something you could fix. Or assign video to a different button and try again at depth.

Fiddling with my EM-5II I found holding the stop down button also prevented it from recording a video.

 

[npole]

As I said I can disassemble all the buttons to check if the issue is really with (one or more of) them.
It's not the I cannot record with the REC button, the Video functionalities are disabled (you cannot even switch the camera in Video mode, I have the switch assigned to the fn1 lever), I already reassigned the video recording button.
What's the "stop down" button? Do you mean the one on the front to preview the DOF? If I keep pressed mine, the camera still switch in video mode. The only button I found that could produce similar result is the shot button if half pressed, but I already checked it: when you half press it, the focal length is shown on the screen, while in my case everything is apparently normal.
Thanks for your help.

 

[Chris Ross]

Yes the stop down is DOF preview, if the housing is still in warranty your only recourse might be to try and make it Meikon's problem.

 

[npole]

I contacted Meikon already, It still in warranty, however I have no problem to buy another one (considering the "limited" cost) if it's proven that the one I have is defected, but I'm worried that I could end with the same issue (the housing can be flawed by design; or it's my M5 that goes crazy when under pressure). I hope to resolve this issue coz I have deeper dives next month and I won't end to use my action camera for the videos.

 

[SCheckman]

I just bought the OLY MK5M2 with the OLY PT13 housing. I tried it underwater last week. I used the macro 60mm lens and noticed the focusing issue. On dry land, I can get it to focus where I want it by touching the LCD screen. I tried to use the grid but found it a bit challenging. Underwater however, the touch screen is not an option. How do you get it to focus on the subject of interest?
Thank you ahead for suggestions/advice.

I just read a great article from wetpixel with some settings for the OMD EM5 Mark II for use underwater (Underwater settings for the Olympus OM-D E-M5 - Digital SLRs/Housings). In particular look at this section:

Improving Focus Point Selection:
You can obtain a smaller focus point to more accurately target what you want in focus using the magnify mode. Tap the F2 Button to switch into Magnify mode. In this mode a single focus point is shown. If this is the first time you've done this, then tap the F2 button again to magnify the image (you will not normally ever enter magnify mode underwater), turn the dial until you see 14x. Now tap the F2 button a third time. You'll return to the single focus point mode, but now the focus point will be small. You can move this focus point around using the arrow keys (note that the magnify focus point is independent of the main focus point(s) position.) To cancel the magnify focus point, hold the F2 button down for 0.5 seconds or longer.

I haven't tried it underwater yet but I have experimented with it on land with my 60mm and it does seem to help with focus.

 

[npole]

It's the focus peek, any modern camera has it... and it's very useful, especially in macro shots when you have to use the manual focus on tiny creatures.