Bitterly disapointed with Olympus - 2nd E-PL2 failed!!!

[Ghosthunter]

OK, A while ago I had a E-PL2 and Sony Nex and had to get rid of one so after my E-PL2 failed on me twice by not working I decided to get rid of it and keep the NEX 5 despite zero AF lens support. Recently, because of the lack of decent AF lenses I decided to ditch the NEX and get another E-PL2 as I did love it 1st time around before it failed.

I bought another E-PL2 from work yesterday and did the usual charging of the battery and popped in a SD-HC Card. When I turned it on I noticed that the screen was green! The image on screen was posterised and after a lot of fiddling I changed the card and that helped a little so I changed the card to my posh Sandisk Extreme and that seemed to cure the problem. Today I was playing with the camera and the problem has come back. I have posted an image below.

I'm so damn cross with Olympus! I ordered a 17mm lens yesterday which I'm going to have to send back and loose a little money on.

So what do I get next. I have totally gone off M4/3, Can't afford a X100 so now possibly looking at Sigma or perhaps Ricoh. Not looking at Samsung despite how good they are as they look horrible! except for the X100 which isn't too bad.

I'll have about £500-£600 to spend....any ideas?

Green Screen:

 

[Djarum]

Andy, did you try and take a picture and then look at the picture? I've had some wierd "rainbowing' issues with my E-P1. If I take a picture of a fense or any object that haslots of shiny lines close together, the screen shows some sort of rainbow all over the object. When I look at the pictures at the house, no rainbow. This tells me its either an artifact soley of the LCD or the engine driving the LCD.

From what I can see is that I wonder if something similar is going on. I am also assuming you don't have an art filter on. I would take this picture and send it to Olympus and see if they can help. I know lots of users on the forums have been pretty happy with the E-PL2. I hope you can get the issue resolved. It can't be coincident that you've ran into this problem this many times.

 

[Streetshooter]

GRD111, great camera Andy or back to the Nex if you need different lenses.
Oly should cover you with no loss of money.
It's not a fair situation.
Bummer....

 

[BBW]

Oh, Andy!!! I am so so sorry to read this. I moved your thread into the Open Gear so that more folks would see it and respond to your questions about "what next?!"

I feel terrible for you. What did Olympus have to say?

As for what next... The Ricohs are awfully appealing... I think you need to give this some serious thought and I don't know what other cameras you have right now.

 

[Ghosthunter]

I did take a few images when it was like that and they were fine!?!?! One SD card i tried came up with a warning message so i think there is something possibly wrong with the SD slot or as you say with the engine driving the LCD.

 

[Djarum]

Andy,

Is it on everything? Or only on green objects?

At any rate, the Panny G3 looks promising. Not sure on price, though.

 

[Ghosthunter]

Oh, Andy!!! I am so so sorry to read this. I moved your thread into the Open Gear so that more folks would see it and respond to your questions about "what next?!"

I feel terrible for you. What did Olympus have to say?

As for what next... The Ricohs are awfully appealing... I think you need to give this some serious thought and I don't know what other cameras you have right now.

Thanks BB, I wasn't sure where to put it as usual!

I will be seeing the Olympus rep at work at some point and I'll tell him what a pile of poop his E-PL2's are! He knows I had one that failed.

I have always been impressed with the Ricoh and Sigma image quality although the cameras look very boring BUT it's the IQ that counts! The only other camera I have is the Canon 500D with kit lens. I could just say Stuff it and get a decent lens for the 500D and not have a compact but i really do want one for various reasons including times when it's much easier to take the Compact.

 

[Ghosthunter]

Andy,

Is it on everything? Or only on green objects?

At any rate, the Panny G3 looks promising. Not sure on price, though.

It's on everything including the menu!!

There's a pic of the G3 with some spec in a mag i bought today and it looks like a girls posh little hand bag!! LOL

 

[BBW]

I understand your wanting a compact camera - heck that's how we all ended up here, right?

Let's see what you find out from the Olympus rep. If it turns out all is well with your E-PL2, I'm moving this back into the Micro Four Thirds forum as a heads' up to people. I just wanted to be sure that you got plenty of suggestions for your next camera purchase. Hang in there, you certainly work in the right place to get answers fast!

 

[Armanius]

Andy,

If you download the photos to your computer, do they still look that way?

If you are going to ditch Oly, see if you can find an used GF1. I'm not too fond of the GF2. But the GF2 is definitely a very compact camera (relative to other larger sensor cameras). Smaller than the EPL2.

If you don't mind a little bit bigger, you can find new G1 kits for as low as $350 (here in the US) and GH1 body only for $400 (B&H). Not sure what their prices look like in UK though.

 

[BBW]

Andy has had a GF1, haven't you Andy?

 

[Ghosthunter]

yep i have had a couple GF1's but now i just want to get a simple compact with fixed focal length and awesome image quality. Looking at the Ricoh GR3 and Sigma DP2x. The GR3 dos produce stunning images but it's only 28mm and produces RAW+Jpg which is annoying. I think you can choose to ignore Jpg's when importing RAW+Jpg in Lightroom but will need to check.

I have just checked the camera again and it's showing green even without a card inserted! and that's on the menu as well as the image.

 

[BBW]

Well, I'm not sure if a simple compact is a G3 but you ought to check out Pelao's review My hands on G3 Review anyway. It sounds as though it's a very nice camera. But fixed focal length...it's not.

 

[pictor]

I would not buy a compact with a fixed 28mm equivalent lens, but the Panasonic GF2 with the 14mm lens. This is a very small camera with a much better image quality than one can expect from all those mini sensors. And one has the possibility to buy additional lenses like the 20mm.

 

[Briar]

Andy, if I were in your situation, I would buy the e-pl1 (its now cheap and remains very reliable), then use the rest of your money to put down a deposit at Jessops to buy the X100 on an interest free loan to spread the cost over the year (or another company if they can supply the camera cheaper with interest free). Ok, so the e-pl1 is still Olympus but I've got both the e-pl1 and e-p2 and had no problems with them at all.

Have you sold your Nex? I loved the images you were producing with that camera.

 

[Ghosthunter]

Andy, if I were in your situation, I would buy the e-pl1 (its now cheap and remains very reliable), then use the rest of your money to put down a deposit at Jessops to buy the X100 on an interest free loan to spread the cost over the year (or another company if they can supply the camera cheaper with interest free). Ok, so the e-pl1 is still Olympus but I've got both the e-pl1 and e-p2 and had no problems with them at all.

Have you sold your Nex? I loved the images you were producing with that camera.

The E-PL1 to me looks really horrible from a design point of view. I know it performs well but I hate it's looks. I would not buy another Olympus product for a long time seeing as I have had 2 fail on me.

Yes the NEX has gone and I wish I still had it! Hey Ho! I'm looking now at the G3 from Panasonic which looks very impressive.

 

[Lili]

Sorry you've had such a bad time with Olympus.
I have four and no problems at all, luck of the draw I guess.
Some will decry the Ricoh Gr Digital series but I adored mine despite its demise.
Ricoh GRD - a set on Flickr
that is my set on flickr for the GRD first gen

 

[Luckypenguin]

I don't see Olympus as being any more or less reliable than average, but I can understand how having two fail on you has soured your view of the company.

 

[Ghosthunter]

I don't see Olympus as being any more or less reliable than average, but I can understand how having two fail on you has soured your view of the company.

Totally agree, I have had 2 E-P1's and they were spot on so I guess I was just unlucky.

 

[dixeyk]

Okay then...so two bad cameras has soured you on m43? Could be just a bad batch. Have you considered a Panasonic camera or perhaps a different Pen camera. The E-P1 can be bought quite cheaply and it is a terrific camera. If you need the VF2 option then the E-PL1 or E-P2 are options. If good AF is what you're after a G2 is a great camera with IQ pretty much on par with the Pens and IMHO much better UI and controls.