I had blocked out a night here at the Desert Photo Retreat for my own photography. I was looking forward to breaking out the flashes, a remote, and doing some wide angle bird photography, something I haven’t had time to do this year. Unfortunately, my Olympus E-M1X locked up, and wouldn’t turn on or off even after removing the battery and trying everything. I was bummed about the camera, but thought this will be a good insight into Olympus. In the past, Canon had always treated me great when it came to service, this would be a good test.

I sent them off an email that evening. The website said it could take 48 hours for a response, however they got back to me first thing the next morning. This, despite not being being a member of Olympus Professional Services which offers expedited service. A program I quickly joined. They had my pay $378 in estimated repairs, and I sent the camera right off.

This was around Thursday. I was pleasantly surprised to have the camera back by Tuesday, they had replaced the shutter. Unfortunately, the camera wasn’t any better, it still froze up. Needless to say, that was frustrating. I contacted Olympus and they were very responsive and apologetic, and had me send it right back to them FedEx overnight at no additional expense. I insisted they test the camera before returning as I can’t be without it. I was surprised to see the camera being returned to me from service the same day it arrived – I was concerned they hadn’t given it enough time for testing. That is until the package arrived and I realized they sent me an entirely new camera! It is working flawlessly!

I know from time to time things will go wrong. It is how they are handled that makes the difference, and I must say, in the end I don’t have any complaints with how Olympus handled everything, and confidence in them if there are any problems in the future. In addition, it seems to be an isolated problem, as I did extensive internet searching on the problem and couldn’t find anyone with a similar issue. So, now back to the birds!

A couple of horned puffin on the same day as yesterday’s bear family photo – the days in Alaska are full! From last June.

A brown bear sow with spring cubs last spring in Alaska in some warm morning light!

I am finally editing my images from last summer, so thought I would share a few that I hadn’t processed before.

From a recent night camera trapping – I guess mice get thirsty too!