Micro 4/3 Way to quadruple battery life on the Olympus OM-D EM-5

Jock Elliott

Hall of Famer
Location
Troy, NY
This comes from Steve Huff photo. A fellow named Jim Huffman was shooting sports with his OMD, and with the help of Olympus tech support, came of with this tweak, which he claims quadruple's battery life because the back screen is off all the time (unless you're playing back or making adjustments) and the EVF is off until the camera is at your eye. I am currently fooling around with an EM-5, have tried this trick, and can verify that it actually does turn the back screen off and activates the EVF only when you need it. I have to wait and see how much this extends battery life.

Here is what Huffman said:

"the E-M5 is a battery drain. i have the pistol grip with 2nd battery – but even the combination can’t shoot an all day tournament. the camera dies after 600+ shots… Plus…. the back lcd screen always comes on unless the camera is at your eye. if you want to use the eyepiece, there is a short latency between putting it to your eye and switching. the latency is not great for sports. plus, when you take the camera away from your eye, the back panel lights for a while, creating battery drain. And, the toggle between the two screens drains the battery. I thought – I’ll call Olympus and see if there is any way to:

1. Turn of the back lcd entirely. This would save on battery life AND eliminate the delay in switching.


2. still allow for back panel adjustment settings, if desired.


Well, 2 days later the Oly support guy called back. Viola! no direct way, but you can accomplish the same thing. Let me know if you want the settings, but essentially, you go to the K gear in options, and then into touch screen settings, and turn them off. then go to D gear, control settings, P/A/S/M, and turn off all live control settings. Then turn ON live scp (super control panel). OK, almost done. Hit the button on the ‘prism’ to the right of the eyepiece, and bring up the super control panel. use the OK button to activate any setting you want to change. When done, hit the info button. The screen goes black!


Now? the camera is essentially an SLR. no rear view at all, UNLESS you hit that button next to the right eyepiece. it becomes the toggle between live view (like before) and a black back screen! I just significantly increased my battery life! if you want to go to settings, just hit the info button. the info button becomes the settings toggle."


Cheers, Jock
 
Back
Top