According to the Olympus website there is a firmware update for the E-M10 mark IV,
which improves the precision of focus when using single-focal-length lenses.
I assume the improvement to the precision of focus is significant since this firmware
update has been released for all the latest Olympus cameras including the Olympus PEN E-P7,
the OMD E-M10 mark IV, the OM-D E-M5 mark III, the OM-D E-M1 mark II and mark III, and the E-M1X.
The firmware release was done simultaneously for all these cameras on the 28th of February 2022.
The firmware update instructions are available on the official
Olympus website, as well as on other websites.
First you have to upgrade to the latest version of Olympus Workspace software on your computer
which is now re-branded as OM Workspace. Then you can update your camera from there.
My computer is still running windows 7 so I couldn't download and install the
latest version of OM Workspace. So instead I found a website which had an archive of an
old version of Olympus Workspace. Version 1.3.1.2 to be exact, which I downloaded and installed.
I'm going to turn on the camera to make sure all the settings are configured correctly.
Some people think that you shouldn't have any SD cards inside the camera,
but in my experience it doesn't make a difference. The setting which is
important is to set the USB mode to be in "Storage" mode or in "Auto". In "Auto" it
will automatically select storage but if you put it in storage then you won't have any issues.
Once you've done that then you can plug the USB cable into the camera which on the E-M10 mark 4
is on the right hand side. So you just plug that in and then it will switch off the LCD
screen on the camera because you can't use the camera at the same time when you're using the
USB port. So your computer will recognize the camera and from there you can start
installing the firmware update on the camera. So I've downloaded this old version of Olympus
workspace and I'm going to go to the camera menu and then click on update and this should show the
camera updater the firmware updater dialog which will let me update the firmware on the camera.
So this is the update dialog, and I don't know what this window is that
popped up but it doesn't seem to be responding. I'm going to close it anyway and see what happens.
Okay that was a forced close. Click next. This is connecting to the camera and the server.
So it retrieves the version number from the camera and the latest version from the Olympus servers.
...and as you can see, it's version 1.1 which is available and on the camera it is still version 1.
So I'm going to click update. So yeah, it just asked for confirmation... that's fine
...and you have to agree to the terms and conditions as usual.
Okay here it says this updating the firmware,
but I think what it's doing at this stage is just downloading the latest firmware from the
Olympus servers and then after it downloads it from the servers, it copies it to the camera
in a temporary storage area which it can then use to update the actual firmware on the camera.
...and I think that's why this stage of the process takes a relatively long time. So I
might fast forward this bit. Minutes of just software download seems to be a waste of time.
So there's a next stage which comes a bit later and that's the part
when the firmware update actually happens. Okay it looks like the download is finished
and at this point I expect that firmware file to be copied across to the camera from the computer.
This should be faster than the download over internet as its using a USB 2 or USB 3 connection.
This is also taking slightly longer than I expected.
Okay so this is the stage where the firmware actually gets updated on the camera.
So the camera firmware will be installed on the camera and once that finishes, you'll see an "OK"
text on the screen of the camera, but as long as you see this icons then you shouldn't unplug the
cable or touch the camera or do anything with it. Just be patient until the firmware installs fully.
Okay so at this stage the firmware update is complete. The "OK" text is being shown
on the screen of the camera. So I'm going to disconnect the USB cable from the camera.
...and then switch off the camera.
and then press close on this dialog and I should end the process.
So you can press close or you can press continue if you wanted to update another part of the camera
such as updating the lens but since I don't have any more updates to do
I'm just going to press close and that will end the process.
I'm going to the camera menu and I'm going to click update just to check whether the firmware
update was successful or not. So the computer is asking me for permission to allow the Olympus
software to make changes on the computer which I will click yes so that it continues to work.
Okay, I didn't do anything but then this non-responsive window pops up.
So I am just going to force close this window so I can continue.
Okay so this dialog is still here. I'm going to press next.
and now it's connecting to the camera...
and is showing the camera version and the lens version. So you can see the camera is
now updated to version 1.1 and there's no newer versions available. So I'm going to close this,
and also you can come back to the menu item on the camera
and check to make sure that the firmware has been updated.
So I'm going to go to the menu, and then go to the wrench icon, and then
select firmware, and here you can see that the
camera body firmware has been updated to 1.1 as opposed to 1.0 which is what it was before.
and that's the camera firmware update completed.
Instead of using an old version of Olympus workspace to
update the firmware on your camera, it's also possible to use a tool where you copy the latest
firmware to the memory stick on your camera and insert it and then update it from there.
and there's a website called lightsnowdev.com
which provides this tool. So you can go to that website and download and install
the latest firmware for your camera without actually using Olympus workspace altogether.
I haven't actually used this tool yet myself so I can't recommend it or say whether it works or not
but that's an option if you don't have access to the latest version of Olympus workspace software,
or you don't feel comfortable installing an old version of Olympus workspace.
I think this is a really important update to the camera because if you can just improve
the precision of focus with a firmware update then you're essentially improving the quality
of your pictures and the sharpness of your images without actually buying any new gear
or learning any new skills or doing any extra work really. So I definitely think this is one of those
firmware updates which is definitely worth. It's almost like an upgrade to your camera.
Anyway if you have any questions about the update or if you have any questions about this camera or
how to do the update or anything else just let me know and I'll either answer in the comments
or create a new video if it's something that I have to demonstrate in a video.