Report E-3 firmware bugs found here

[Johannes]

Dear fellow members and E-3 users/owners, please write down the bugs you found at real life use from firmware 1.1 here, read not watch before you post, do not repeat the message, do not quote, do not comment, just write down the bug(s) which is different from others posted.

[Johannes]

When the camera cannot focus at all, and the view from the optical viewfinder is completely out of focus and blurry, the beep beep still sounds together with the AF confirmation green light steadily on.

[henq]

- When shutting off the camera or letting it go to sleep with MF active, the FN button will toggle between MF & MF instead of whatever mode was set before.

- I can consistently get the E3 to totally lock up if I use C-AF and shoot continuously at different targets. Mirror is up until I make a basic reset (= take out battery). Note that this only happens with 3rd party battery (so perhaps Oly will not acknowledge this error).

- No focus confirmation on legacy lenses

btw: these are available in both 1.0 & 1.1

[Twanaar]

- Light exposure histogram is false in LV mode (Firmware 1.0 & 1.1)
This histogram seem calculated with the picture displayed on ACL monitor.
When live view boost display is enable , it's totaly false.
When live view boost display is off and shoot in low light (like indoor), some display compensation occurs and histogram show always the same diagrame independly to the real exporue.

Only in outdoor (or enought) light this histogram show real exposure diagram of the picture according to real exposure setting, and in this case he's really help a lot for "expose to right".

[Johannes]

When main dial or sub dial was assigned for adjusting flash output, the flash +- icon shows at the OVF info area, but the ruler not.

At the color LCD, the ruler shows the upper one as flash output and lower as EV+-

The ruler did show if you press the left shoulder flash button and rotate the dial.

[ksj]

Auto white-balance in incandescent light is absolutely horrible... I hope this is a bug and can be corrected. I can use a grey card for some situations, but not all.

[250swb]

Don't know if this a Firmware or individual camera thing, but the E3 will be working perfectly for extended periods, great focusing, great exposures etc, then for no apparent reason it will lock up and not focus or fire even if shutter release priority is On and in any of the AF focusing modes. After frantic fiddling, switching off and on etc it comes back to life and carries on working again.

It has happened three or four times, but because it was in an action situation each time and I needed to continue taking pictures quickly I haven't yet had the luxury to slowly look at settings when it happens and analyze what may have caused the temporary lockups. I know it has happened with both aftermarket and Olympus batteries installed and each time with the 12-60mm lens.

[martin kimeldorf]

I think the My Mode sequence of registering info has changed...I have to now erase or reset before I can commit the new or revised settings.

[Knight Palm]

|CUSTOM RESET|RESET1|RESET2| (Access through +/-, ISO, and DIAL)

1. *Change LCD display reading* to read |CUSTOM RESET|SET1|SET2|, otherwise this info is misleading. You do not want to reset your personalized settings SET1 & SET2 from the dedicated buttons. Resetting of the personalized settings (RESET1 & RESET2) should only be possible through the Super Control Panel, not through the dedicated buttons. That is already implemented and is working fine.

2. CUSTOM RESET (should set the camera in default mode)
Since I can have *3 SETTINGS* with the E-3 camera, |CUSTOM RESET|SET1|SET2|, I also want the default settings, which I get with the CUSTOM RESET, to be a little more clever. What I am objecting against, is the fact that the "Depth of Field PREVIEW" is the default assignment of the "Fn" button. This is really a stupid redundant assignment, since the camera already has a dedicated DOF PREVIEW button on the front. I can understand the need when HLD-4 is attached, but that still doesn't justify the current default assignment. Much better would be to assign "One Touch WB" to the "Fn" button as default, because it's a real pain otherwise to access this "One Touch WB" function. Most users currently struggle with finding how to use "One Touch WB", which must be an overlook in the current use model. I hope to see this corrected in the very next f/w update.

[Knight Palm]

(This is an enhancement request for added functionality)

Panasonic has three O.I.S. Modes, where currently only the Mode 1 is supported on Olympus cameras.

It would also be convenient to actually be able to use the aperture ring on some of the Leica D lenses.

Panasonic > O.I.S. Modes > | Enable All | Mode 1 only | Disable All |
Panasonic > Aperture ring > | Enable | Disable |

[harjtt]

When the camera cannot focus at all, and the view from the optical viewfinder is completely out of focus and blurry, the beep beep still sounds together with the AF confirmation green light steadily on.

Get exactly the same issue with my E3 - and you can still take the shot.

[harjtt]

1. Lens camera communication failure - since doing the hard reset last night.
2. Lens hunting - Both the 14-54 and 35-100f2 will do the following - initially focus on the target but immediately loose focus lock and then hunt. If your lucky after the 2nd or 3rd attempt it focuses but then will more likely jump out of focus and remain there.

[Rand47]

FN button set to toggle between SAF and MF. If you turn the camera off while toggled to MF, it will be "stuck" in MF and will no longer toggle unless you do a manual set return to SAF, at which point it will then toggle between SAF and MF once again.

I believe this is the same, or similar to a condition mentioned above.

[LucaPCP]

Suppose I have the camera with IS on in mode P, MyMode1, MyMode2.
I go to MyMode2 (or MyMode1), then turn the camera off.
When I swith it on, I am in MyMode2, but IS is now off (this is the error).
When from MyMode2 I go to P, IS turns on again, and stays on when I subequently go to MyMode1 or MyMode2.

Luca

[Joop]

Suppose I have the camera with IS on in mode P, MyMode1, MyMode2.
I go to MyMode2 (or MyMode1), then turn the camera off.
When I swith it on, I am in MyMode2, but IS is now off (this is the error).
When from MyMode2 I go to P, IS turns on again, and stays on when I subequently go to MyMode1 or MyMode2.

Luca

No, this isn't a bug. Please see page 134 Eng pdf for the functions which can be registered with My Mode. IS is not among them.

[LucaPCP]

No, this isn't a bug. Please see page 134 Eng pdf for the functions which can be registered with My Mode. IS is not among them.

No, this IS a bug.
The problem is not that MyMode does not store IS.
The problem is that the camera fails to wake up in the same state in which it was, if one has MyMode set.

Example:

You are in P mode, with IS on.
Turn the camera off, then on.
You are still in P mode, with IS on.

You are in MyMode1 with IS on.
Turn the camera off, then on.
You are in MyMode1, but IS is OFF. <---- This is the bug!

The camera should retain all settings when switched off, then on.
Especially, either IS is always retained, or it never is.
The current behavior is just a bug. You can document a bug, but it does not make it less of a bug.
And again, this does not have to do with storing IS as part of MyMode.

Luca

[Joop]

No, this IS a bug.
The problem is not that MyMode does not store IS.
The problem is that the camera fails to wake up in the same state in which it was, if one has MyMode set.

Seems you don't understand a few things, lets try again.

You are in P mode, with IS on.
Turn the camera off, then on.
You are still in P mode, with IS on.

This is perfectly normal, no comments.

You are in MyMode1 with IS on.
Turn the camera off, then on.
You are in MyMode1, but IS is OFF. <---- This is the bug!

As said before in my answer, MyMode does not store or does know anything about IS. When you turn off the camera and turn it on again then MyMode is reinstalled, not waked up. Because of that also IS is not restored. Its not a good thing to have IS on all the time. If this was the intention of Olympus than they had build it in and switched it on permanently. They did not and they put a switch between IS and the power (or something like it) supply. If they want it on all the time they would do so because its already a crowded setup with al those knobs and buttons all over the E-3.

[LucaPCP]

I understand very well what you are saying.
However, I have quite a bit of sw design experience, and in my not so humble opinion, the behavior below is a bug, pure and simple.
If in modes P, A, Tv, M the camera wakes up with the same settings after an on/off/on, then the same has to be true of MyMode1 and MyMode2.
Designing the thing otherwise is just confusing, and essentially, a UI bug.

Appreciating that IS is reset to OFF when you wake the camera up in MyMode1/2 is also not the point: the point is the inconsistency.
Think about it: why would MyMode1/2 reset IS to off at wakeup, but not reset it to off when you move from P to MyMode1/2?

However you look at it, it is an inconsistency and a bug.
As I said, not because a bug is documented, it is less of a bug.
There are many bugs that are intentional, due to ill-advised design, but they are no less of a bug because of that.
And no, you probably will not be able to change my mind on this :-) (neither will I be able to change yours, I guess).

Best,

Luca

Seems you don't understand a few things, lets try again.


This is perfectly normal, no comments.


As said before in my answer, MyMode does not store or does know anything about IS. When you turn off the camera and turn it on again then MyMode is reinstalled, not waked up. Because of that also IS is not restored. Its not a good thing to have IS on all the time. If this was the intention of Olympus than they had build it in and switched it on permanently. They did not and they put a switch between IS and the power (or something like it) supply. If they want it on all the time they would do so because its already a crowded setup with al those knobs and buttons all over the E-3.

[Derek Wright]

If you ignore Mymode then if you have IS on and then power off and then power on then IS is still on. So it appears to me that the designers are not indicating to me to not have IS on as a default operating condition. By their action it implies that one can leave IS on all the time and have it available after power on without any further action.

[jebir]

Agree with you Luca, this is definitely a bug.

Cheers, Jens.

[dh202]

Not to drag this issue out,but I once posted a question about how many assigned FN settings you could set with My mode, and EB kindly pointed out that My mode will not retain FN settings only custom reset will.
If the My mode function is used to go to a MY MODE state it probably overrides all other settings to achieve a true reset of all other settings, which also cancels out IS.
This may not be an actuall bug but an intended glitch.

just my $.02, David

[OllyBBommel]

The only bug my E3 has, as far as I use but a small part of all its settings, is that it forces me to go out and take pictures

[Alan Baxter]

When live view is activated, the exposure lock preferences are ignored with the exposure lock button being reallocated to autofocus. As a consequence, under live view, there is no way to perform an exposure lock (half press of shutter release doesn't work either).

Regards,

Alan

[E B]

That's a nice find. I hadn't noticed that before. However, Olympus apparently doesn't consider that a firmware bug. They warn you in the bottom note at the bottom of P. 32 of the E-3 manual that's the way the camera works.

[Alan Baxter]

Dear EB,
No - the manual say CONSTANT AF/AE lock is not available. Single AF/AE lock is not available either; NO AE lock is available, which is very suboptimal for a "professional" camera. Do they expect us to only take photographs that have 18% grey (or its equivalent) in the middle of the shot? This is so silly, and should be so easily fixed, that I wish they would.
Regards,

Alan