Olympus E-500 brand new - won't take photos and odd flash?

I recently recieved a brand new Olympus E-500 for christmas. I've used

it about 6 times and during the 6th time, the flash began to act

funny. It would make a sort of strobe light blinking, and then

sometimes not take a photo. Now, the strobe light thing is still

happening, but the camera won't take any photos at all! Does anyone

know what's going on? I've searched google and ploughed through the

entire manual but I can't figure out what's wrong!

Many cameras use the flash in a strobe mode as an autofocus illuminator when it's too dark for ambient light focusing.

 

I've no idea if the E-500 is one of them though.

Kat, please dont take this the wrong way but are you holding down the shutter release button long enough? As Bob said, your camera has AF assist lamp:flash strobe (flash must be raised) but you have to keep holding down the shutter release to take the photo. Also did you try taking it outside in good daylight and does it work there?

Kat, Bob is correct. This is even mentioned in dpreview.com's review of the camera: "In a low light situation with the flash raised the camera will strobe the flash to act as an assist lamp for the AF system (it must be raised manually to perform this function)."

 

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/olympuse500/page4.asp

 

You should consult the user manual for more information. Try around page 75.

if my memory serves the E-500 wont take a picture if it can't focus. The strobing is the AF illuminator. Check your manual for custom functions. There probable is a function that will allow you to take photos even when the camera can't find focus. Call the store where you bought the camera and ask your sales-person for some help. They may have a few tips that we haven't thought of.

Heya...

 

These guys covered it mostly... ;) I have the E-500 and i can tell u that in S-AF/+MF modes it strobes continuously untill it focuses(if in AF mode), and blinks only once if in C-AF/+MF mode. When there is low light or any problem with focusing and your flash is up he will strobe. When the camera is ready for shooting it tells u by a sound that it has the object focused and locked. It happens when u have the shoot button half pressed. After the sound u press down to the other half. And your picture is taken. Try the camera in AUTO mode, and as people advised outside, minding that u press the button half way, and after it focuses the oher half down. Except for the sound the camera tells u that it has focused by a constantly lit up dot in the viewfinder. if it blinks the camera wont focus, or in some cases shoot at all.

 

I hoped that i helped, and there is a chance, as allways that the camera is malfunctioned and u will have to return it to the plce where u bought it.

 

maax

Try playing around with the focus priority thats hidden in the submenus. This will allow you to take a shot without the picture being in focus. A problem I used to have was that the camera would not take the shot when I needed it to. I soon realized that the camera was programed to not take a shot unless it was in focus - this may be what is happening to you. Your camera probably won't take the shot because it feels that the subject is not in focus. My solution is to manually focus the subject and program the AEL button for AFL (auto focus lock) so that you can manually focus or press the AFL to quickly focus (yeah it's cheating) onto the subject. That way you're incharge of when the camera shoots and you're responsible if the subject is not in focus. Remember the camera's technology is only there to assist you, not to replace you. Sorry if that was a little long winded, I'm sure I've had this problem with all of the Olympus camera that I have owned - it's an AF problem in general.

Thanks so much for the help guys! All of the advice has been great; the only problem now is

that for one shot one photo comes out lovely and in the second (same lighting, same

everything) it comes out completely over exposed...any thoughts?

have u checked in the menu if any of the bracketing functions were on? like maybe the EV bracketing? or if u take photos on manual, the exposure compensation goes wild if u suddenly change the lighting of the object concerning the light metering modes. (ESP, SPOT... etc.)

I just bought this camera today, I love this camera it takes awesome pictures. What I found out is if the camera isn't in focus it will not take the picture. This is what is happening with yours probablly, it was doing the same thing to me as well. Try to focus in on the object it should work for you.