New Member

[AlbertFoy]

Hi all, Just joined up,so here goes my 'first-post'...
I am in my 70's,I Worked most of my life abroad, Africa,..Middle East ..Far East Australia,..Irish Sea !...
I live in Darkest Cornwall, and I was spending most of my time restoring a 1990 American RV that i bought on Fleabay for 'Pennies'

Last week I saw for sale on our local Facebook group, a camera that i have wanted for years...A Pen E-P1 !..I used to have a Pen 1/2 frame in the 70's but made the mistake of putting it down for a few seconds when i was working in Nigeria, never saw it go, and of course never saw it again !

Last Friday, i saw on fleabay an FL-14 flash for it (cost more than the camera)...Arrived today and just like a lost & found late Christmas present, eagerly set it up and walked around firing it off (as you do with a new pressy) . Just taken a few 'test' shots around the house & Garden, also taking identicle shots with my Olympus Tough & Sony'handycam' (with 20mp sensor) for comparison,. The Pen easily blew away the competion especialy considering that the Pen is a lot older than the other camera's !
I managed to download the 'user-guide' for the pen, but I cannot get the 'Menu' button to work, nor any of the 4 small black buttons on the front of the camera.(decals now worn away) Also, when i take a shot, the recorded image stays on the display, the only way to remove it is to press the shutter button halfway down, or turn the camera off, then on again ...Any ideas ?....

The lighted 'SSWF' indicator foxed me until i searched online and discovered It's purpose inLife. The Guide tells me to hold the camera 'Upright' while the sensor is being 'de-dusted' ... but surely if i hold it upright ie lens pointing upwards, isn't whatever dust is shaken off the sensor just going to land back on the sensor ?...and then,...what happens to the removed dust ...will there be a pile of dust in one of the far-flung corners ?
Answers and assistance will be most appreciated
Albert
Soggy Polruan

[Luv2shoot]

Hello and welcome Albert. I enjoyed reading your story and elation about yourr New Used camera. Unfortunately I cannot answer any of the questions you posted but I am confident that the knowledgeable staff and members here in this Olympus UK site will come to your rescue. You came to the right place. I am looking forward to getting to know you better and seeing those shots you speak of that blew away the competition. Good luck with your camera and hope we get to see a lot of you and your photos in the future.
LORELL (from the USA)

[blackfox]

Welcome Albert , can’t help with any issues unfortunately . But persevere it usually falls into place

[Graham_of_Rainham]

Hello and welcome to the Forum

[OM USer]

A warm welcome Albert. I'm not familiar with the E-P1 but I can not think of any circumstances under which the menu button would not work. Are the other buttons that you didn't mention all doing the correct thing? If the mode dial is in iAuto it may stop some things functioning as expected as the camera will take charge of most operations.

[Graham_of_Rainham]

Hi all, Just joined up,so here goes my 'first-post'...
I am in my 70's,I Worked most of my life abroad, Africa,..Middle East ..Far East Australia,..Irish Sea !...
I live in Darkest Cornwall, and I was spending most of my time restoring a 1990 American RV that i bought on Fleabay for 'Pennies'

Last week I saw for sale on our local Facebook group, a camera that i have wanted for years...A Pen E-P1 !..I used to have a Pen 1/2 frame in the 70's but made the mistake of putting it down for a few seconds when i was working in Nigeria, never saw it go, and of course never saw it again !

Last Friday, i saw on fleabay an FL-14 flash for it (cost more than the camera)...Arrived today and just like a lost & found late Christmas present, eagerly set it up and walked around firing it off (as you do with a new pressy) . Just taken a few 'test' shots around the house & Garden, also taking identicle shots with my Olympus Tough & Sony'handycam' (with 20mp sensor) for comparison,. The Pen easily blew away the competion especialy considering that the Pen is a lot older than the other camera's !
I managed to download the 'user-guide' for the pen, but I cannot get the 'Menu' button to work, nor any of the 4 small black buttons on the front of the camera.(decals now worn away) Also, when i take a shot, the recorded image stays on the display, the only way to remove it is to press the shutter button halfway down, or turn the camera off, then on again ...Any ideas ?.... Without access to the MENUS you will not be able to turn off “Rec View” which is what makes the image remain visible after exposure

The lighted 'SSWF' indicator foxed me until i searched online and discovered It's purpose inLife. The Guide tells me to hold the camera 'Upright' while the sensor is being 'de-dusted' ... but surely if i hold it upright ie lens pointing upwards, isn't whatever dust is shaken off the sensor just going to land back on the sensor ?...and then,...what happens to the removed dust ...will there be a pile of dust in one of the far-flung corners ? Hold the camera as you would “normally “ when you switch on . The term “Upright” refers to the camera body.
Answers and assistance will be most appreciated
Albert
Soggy Polruan

This is one of the most friendly forums and people are always willing to help!

[djrwhittle]

Welcome Albert.

[bill edwards]

Welcome Albert!

[timboo]

Hi and welcome I am unfamiliar with this camera but found a link, which suggests an alternate way of resetting the camera, without the use of the menu button. Nothing to lose other than all the settings assuming 8 hours without the battery actually works 🤷🏽♂️

https://www.ifixit.com/Wiki/Olympus_...roubleshooting

Here is an additional link where a user experienced similar combination of buttons not working but when flipping between modes such as scn worked at times. Olympus replaced the main board but the problem returned eventually olympus exchanged the camera for a different model. Apologies it may not give u the answer u are hoping for but at least its a further possible cause being hardware related. I literally scanned down the thread so if I have not memorised it correctly in its entirety forgive me.

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3349906

As others have said the menu button should not stop working. Hope a reset described in the link works for you.

[buddha01]

Welcome to the forum, Albert

[blu-by-u]

Hi and welcome. that E-P1 is pretty old those buttons not working could be dirty contacts. I won't advice you to open it up to clean it yourself. Too many tiny parts and I think it's pretty cramp in there.

[drmarkf]

Hi Albert.

Welcome to the best Olympus resource on the web.

If your researches on the EP-1 don't solve the problem it would probably be worth giving Luton Cameras a bell. They've been the top unofficial, commercial repairers and suppliers of spares for Olympus for decades. They have a website - http://www.lutoncameras.co.uk/ - which looks like it was already out of date when the EP-1 was new (!), but I've found they're more responsive to a good, old-fashioned telephone call...

Polruan's nice, but we haven't been for too many years.

[Shaw]

'The lighted 'SSWF' indicator foxed me until i searched online and discovered It's purpose inLife. The Guide tells me to hold the camera 'Upright' while the sensor is being 'de-dusted' ... but surely if i hold it upright ie lens pointing upwards, isn't whatever dust is shaken off the sensor just going to land back on the sensor ?...and then,...what happens to the removed dust ...will there be a pile of dust in one of the far-flung corners ?
Answers and assistance will be most appreciated'
Albert
Soggy Polruan

I think that 'upright' is meant to be holding the camera normally, facing forward, and the dust is collected on an adhesive strip at the foot of the sensor.

[Phill D]

Hi Albert welcome to the forum. A second shout out for Luton Cameras from me they are great. Hopefully you wont need them though and it's a simple fix although it certainly is an unusual problem.

Are you anywhere near Porthkidney Sands where the old shipwrecks have been revealed?

[AlbertFoy]

Hi Albert.

Welcome to the best Olympus resource on the web.

If your researches on the EP-1 don't solve the problem it would probably be worth giving Luton Cameras a bell. They've been the top unofficial, commercial repairers and suppliers of spares for Olympus for decades. They have a website - http://www.lutoncameras.co.uk/ - which looks like it was already out of date when the EP-1 was new (!), but I've found they're more responsive to a good, old-fashioned telephone call...

Polruan's nice, but we haven't been for too many years.

Thanks Mark,I dont know what the pen is worth, but i didnt pay very much for it, in fgact the FL-14 cost me more !...I will have a look at Luton's website. Polruan has changed a lot in the last few years, a lot of 'High-End' second homes built on any available space, now 2nd home are 75% of the village, still thats the way the world is going these days,
Albert
Soggy, but warmer Polruan