Continuing from the first post on accessories for the E-M5. Unlike the couple of Nikon (D)SLRs I’ve had, the E-M5 uses an electronic viewfinder, which itself is a prodigious user of battery power. The pair of Nikon DSLRs for instance could routinely take 800 and more pictures – with plenty of image chimping in between too. The E-M5 is CIPA rated to just 350 shots, and though one could get more than that depending on shooting habits, picking up a few more batteries shortly after purchase was necessary when we headed out for our trip to the Telunas Beach Resort last year in June, followed by my 8 day trip to China thereafter.
Trouble is – the OEM batteries for the E-M5 are dreadfully expensive, going at just a shade under $90 each here. Ouch. Shortly after the E-M5 was released last year, there was a lot of online discussion on where one might find cheaper third party alternate batteries for it. These off market batteries can be quite a hit and miss thing, with mildly annoying problems of them not reporting their current charge levels properly to the camera or not holding their charge well, to more serious challenges of them not working with their intended cameras at all. After doing some fact-finding, I settled on a pair of third party alternatives that cost about $40 including a charger for them last year in May. The two batteries were rated at higher amperage of 1450 mAh compared to the 1220 mAh, but no those numbers were deceiving – I roughly squeezed about 80% of the juice I got out of the OEM battery. Still, for this sort of price, I couldn’t complain – and nearly 19 months after the fact, the two batteries remain nice back-ups for the E-M5 and are still working reasonably well.
A more serious issue with the E-M5 that surfaced early was the eyecup though. By design and also depending on how one is handling the camera, the eyecup has a dreadfully nasty habit of slipping off. It might be the result of the eye piece getting entangled with other gadgets in one’s camera bag – which wouldn’t be quite so bad since the eyecup will just drop into the bag – or getting snagged against one’s clothes while on the move, which would likely mean the eyecup will get lost. Either way, enough users have lost their E-M5 eyecups this way that it’s surprising there isn’t a more thriving business coming out of China making knockoff replacement eyecups for cheap. Things wouldn’t be so bad if it also wasn’t for the fact that the OEM eyecups aren’t cheap: they cost US$9.99 each, and add quite a bit more to get it shipped here to Singapore. I’ve already lost one such eyecup during the China trip, and shortly thereafter, a third party replacement too. I decided not to take chances with the third eyecup – securing it this time with a bit of school glue. This is the white sort of paper glue that’s commonly found in art n craft shops, and is also water soluble.
Yep, it does look like an eyesore, and the solution isn’t perfect by any means even. The rubber lining still comes off too easily, and once it’s out, it’s almost impossible to securely fit it back into its plastic holding frame. I’ve just ordered another third party replacement for just a few dollars, and even though this eyecup is really intended for Nikon DSLRs, it’ll at least be a good temporary replacements to ensure that the E-M5’s viewfinder sans eyepiece doesn’t scratch my glasses.
And lastly; something as seemingly innocuous as extra lens-caps. Might not seem necessary at all – until you start losing them! I carted around both the D7000 and E-M5 coupled with their respective long zoom lenses in May this year for an outdoor shoot of water-borne events at Bedok reservoir, and at the end of the event – lost not just the original Sigma 77mm lens cap for the 70-200mm f2.8, but also a 58mm screw-on UV filter for the Olympus 75-300mm. Yeah shocking – how does a properly screwed-on filter even come loose…?! Losing the lens cap was equally as bad, since the OEM ones can cost a lot of money. A typical 46mm OEM lens cap can cost around $10, while generic ones cost just a dollar. From that point onwards, I bought spare generic-type lens caps for every one of my frequently-used lens, and keep the OEM ones back in their boxes.
Well, that about covers it for the moment. I might do another accessories posts in later months for the couple more odds and ends – like camera bags.=)
I’ve lost more lens hoods and lens caps than I care to count. I’m surprised your Olympus’ eyecup has persisted to be so prone to evacuating its mount. A possible solution: Custom-fitted eyeglasses in the shape of the Olympus eyecups!
Hi CY,
I didn’t know that the eye-cup can drop so easily, thanks for your reminder, I’ll take note of it. I’m more concerned about the lens cap too. Can be easily misplaced. I wonder why there is no string to attach the lens cap to the lens itself.