New Olympus pro service?

[TonyVentourisPhotography]

So the new E-m1 successor looks like they actually listened to a lot of the small nit picks people had and made the camera much better.  I think there were a lot of usability updates.  Very excited.  However...I think the bigger news here is the pro service division.  Pare there any details of what this entails yet?  Anyone know anything?

[SZRitter]

The only thing I remember seeing was either one or two nights (don't remember which) for replacement body delivery. Seems like a good thing to have.

[TonyVentourisPhotography]

According to Olympus Magazine's latest issue which just came out today (the app version)...
Olympus Pro service "will offer an entry level called Standard Plus which will be available free of charge together with My Olympus benefits such as a six month extended warranty.  For pros a further 2 service programs will be offered, Advanced and elite, will typically offer free repair shipments, a loan during repair time, regular system maintenance plan, express customer support, or even assistance via video call."

I am assuming this is based on the purchase of the E-M1 mark II and will not extend to previous models.  I hope the pro lenses are part of this set up.  I look forward to seeing the details.

[Phil Indeblanc]

I don't have recent experience with Oly these days. I might perhaps in the near future...
But I do remember them having one of thee best customer service dept in any of the 3 cameras I was using, Nikon, Canon and Mamiya. I would send the caemra in with an issue, they would send me the new model as a replacement. I think Oly has kept many of its users very happy with this type of no BS customer loyalty. That is the experience I had, and always thought I would switch to Oly at some point. But some years back they made a stance and said 12mpixel is all we are gonna do. And not going FFrame has halted me in shooting with Oly cams. But perhaps things are different now....

The multi shot is an amazingly good feature, from street to studio in one tool.
The hardware is great, from body to glass


What I think Oly has done with this latest EM1 MarkII is mix the major gains of the EVF with a real camera shutter. It bridges the gap and short comings of such cameras like the A7RII that end up feeling more like electronic devices and less of a camera.
I'm not sure if this new model also does multi hi res shot, but $2K is a chunky bite...Maybe if their sensors can show some tech breakthrough, it would be a force you cannot ignore.

[TonyVentourisPhotography]

Speaking of pro service, they just went live with it.  Details seem great.

As far as tech goes...my main go to slr had been a 5dmk2.  The 3 didn't offer me any sort of gain over the 2.  When I saw that my results on the oly had far exceeded that, I was sold. 

The new one has a lot of little functionality updates that no one has spoken about.  I think that is the proble, people look at the "features" and the usability as a tool.  As a whole, the way it allows someone to work is remarkable.  That to me makes the price tag a bargain. 

One great silent update is the. Sync speed with electronic shutter.  It is now 1/50.  That makes using strobes with hi-res mode or focus stacking that much more usable compared to it before.  The new hi res mode is also an 80mp raw with no moire due to the way sampling happens.

Also they have added preset focus distance.  So you can set the camera to a specific pre determined focus distance and have it fire at that.  That distance can be saved to a button.  Very interesting...

Again it is stuff the majority will never use...but if you use it it makes life so much easier.

[Camerajim]

Olympus gave me a heads up on the new pro service when I called in on another issue a few weeks ago. The minimum requirements are two bodies (either E-M1, either E-M5 or a Pen F) and three pro or premium lenses. I signed up. One of my bodies is out of warranty and it will qualify under the program for free cleanings and discounts on service. That gets me pretty much even on the subscription price.

[Phil Indeblanc]

Regarding the new features on the multi shot, the website only shows this as a option for the M5, but its omitted as a feature in the new body

[TonyVentourisPhotography]

E-m5 mk2, pen f, and the new e-m1 all have multishot.  Olympus is even trying to work on a firmware update to allow handheld multishot on the new camera.  Future release maybe.  In fact not only is it included on the new e-m1 but they have made improvements to the electronic shutters ability to do this as well as having some crazy algorithms that eliminate or reduce the motion artifacts that were present in the e-m5.  (When shooting water or windy foliage for instance). It will be interesting to see how well this works in practice. 

[b_rubenstein]

Olympus out sourced all camera repair to Precision Camera years ago. It would be interesting to know who would be doing the service for this Pro program. 

[brandtb]

Precision Repair. I would be extemely wary about sending OMD's and similar to Precision. My OMD-EM1 had stopped functioning in cold weather - so camera "body" went to Precision as at that time Oly had offloaded all repairs to them.  They charged up front $280 and the camera came back worked for a few hundred exposures then failed in same way again, of course on a shooting trip. The same exact experience was then repeated (minus payment). Finally, after getting in touch with the head of customer service I was instructed to send camera directly to Oly America/Hackensack. After examing the camera - the repair staff determined that it wasn't in fact the body - but it was the 12-40 m4/3 lens. Long story short, the lens was sent in and was repaired and all fine. Note that Oly customer service at the corporate level extremely responsive and helpful - as much as one could hope for.

[TonyVentourisPhotography]

Yeah I've had my share of ...situations...with precision.  Olympus let me know however that it is optional to send there.  You can always send to the New Jersey location.  You just have to go about it in a different way, which is not listed on their website.