Entry tags:
Olympus Pen E-P1 disassembly, and full spectrum modification
The Olympus Pen E-P1 is 16 years old this year. So is my personal one. A first gen micro-four-thirds camera, it's specs don't compete nowadays, but I've always loved holding and using this camera. There is something really satisfying about it. Especially paired with a pancake lens. When I upgraded to a newer, fancier camera, I just couldn't part with the E-P1. I've had the vague intention of converting it to become a full-spectrum camera for almost as long as I've had it. Ever since reading about how that is a thing that actually exists, and that it's an easier process with the mirrorless cameras, because you don't need to recalibrate the focus afterwards. Guess what. I've finally gotten around to doing it.
Firstly, what is a full spectrum camera? Basically, digital cameras are sensitive to more wavelengths on the electromagnetic spectrum than human eyes are. This makes their images look wrong, so the manufacturers put a filter (the hot mirror) in the cameras to remove the unwanted ultraviolet and infrared 'noise'. (Early mobile phone cameras didn't have this, back when you could use them to see if the LED on your remote controls lit up when you pressed a button.) But you can get some very interesting photos without this limitation.
And it seems a lot of people agree with me, because multiple businesses have started up to provide these conversions, and filters. Which makes things a whole lot easier for me. Now I can just buy the correct specific replacement glass for my camera from places like;
Kolari internal filters for DIY
Life Pixel internal filters for DIY
There is however a bit of a problem with the age of my camera. It has fallen out of the memory of the internet. I can no longer find the guides I had seen before. I did find Life Pixels E-P3 conversion tutorial, but the E-P3 is not exactly the same as the E-P1. I dug through some old forum links, and found Digital-Photography.pls E-P1/E-P2 conversion on The Way Back Machine. It has some good pointers, and high resolution images, but also a lot of 'like usual', 'like last time', and 'check my previous tutorials' (which also don't explain). Nonetheless, armed with both tutorials, I dived in, figured it out, and recorded the whole thing. What follows are (found footage) stills of my adventure. To make it easier for whomever follows. At their own peril.
- Phillips head screwdriver, mine was size 1.4x40mm,
- Thin tweezers,
- Air blower,
- Soldering iron,
- Anti-static and safety precautions.
If changing the hot mirror, you'll need;
- the replacement glass,
- glass cleaning cloth.
Remove the lens, battery, sd card, and hot shoe protector.
1
Starting from the base of the camera, remove 7 screws.
Lift the base off, mindful that the battery compartment door and hinges will come loose.
2
On the side of the camera with the cable connections door, remove 2 screws.
On the other side of the camera, remove 1 screw.
3
From the front, slide the two halves of the front case (split around the lens area) away from each other (and the lens area). (Pressing the lens-release button if needed.)
4
On the front, around the lens area, near the top of the case, remove 2 screws (and their tiny brackets).
5
On the side of the camera without the door, under the strap attachment point, remove 1 screw.
On the side of the camera with the door, under the strap attachment point, remove 1 screw (the one matching the screw removed on the other side). (There are other screws but they don't need to be removed.)
6
The hot shoe is made up of a few parts. The first one we need to remove is a thin sheet of black metal, the sides of which have spring-like arms keeping it braced under the curved thick metal edges.
Using a thin tweezers, grab this sheet through the cut-out over the small hole. Lift the sheet up towards the top of the curved metal edges (to compress the spring-like arms), and slide it out towards the back of the camera.
7
With that sheet removed more screws are revealed. Remove the 4 screws.
8
With those screws removed, we can lift away the curved metal edges piece.
And we can remove the piece below that as well.
9
From the back of the camera, just under the hot shoe, remove the 2 newly revealed screws.
10
With those screws removed, we can lift off the top part of the case, minding the pieces of buttons that come loose with it.
11
From the back of the camera, remove 4 screws near the four outer corners.
12
On either side of the camera gently lever up the two silver metal braces near the strap attachment points, and begin to ease the back off.
Another piece of the hot shoe will come loose as you do this.
Continue to ease the back off, gently, as the screen is internally connected to the body through a ribbon cable at the bottom-right.
13
Remove 1 screw that is securing this ribbon cable. Then unclip the ribbon cable connector, remove the cable, and put the back case to one side.
14
This is what the inside of the camera looks like. The main areas are the metal plate covered with ribbon cables, to the left, and the green circuit board, to the right.
The transition point between the two areas has four ribbon connectors, and one tiny ribbon cable soldered in place (instead of using a header). To separate the two areas we need to disconnect all of these.
15
First, desolder the single solder point. I found this required quite a high heat, but once hot enough it popped loose very easily.
Then unclip the four ribbon connectors next to the solder joint. I found the largest one awkward, and that the latch part was reversed (compared to the others). Its ribbon cable is also at a tighter angle than the others, making removing the cable more difficult as well. (Lift the three latches towards the green circuit board, lift the fourth away from the green circuit board.) And free the cables.
16
First, remove the black tape keeping the ribbon cables down. (I found removing the blue tape made later steps easier, but I don't think it's strictly necessary.)
There are four screws that we need to remove. Each of these four screws has a pair of washers/spacers on the underside of the metal plate. When you start lifting that plate out the washers/spacers will fall out. You need to keep these. And, annoyingly, replace them when re-assembling. They help keep the correct focal position. They're important.
The first two screws are readily accessible, on the metal plate, along the bottom of the camera, remove 2 screws.
17
The other screws are less accessible. You need to push the ribbon cables aside, and lift the blue tape near the top-right of the metal plate to find one. Remove 1 screw.
18
You need to push the ribbon cables aside, and lift the black tape near the top-left of the metal plate to find the other one. Remove 1 screw.
19
Back at the plate-circuit board division line, there is a little bracket. Remove 1 screw (and the little brackets that come with it).
20
Now, gently, begin to lift the metal plate assembly out from under all the ribbon cables.
Open it like a book, towards the green circuit board.
Keep track of all the washers/spacers that fall out.
This is the sensor, image stabiliser (with the springs), and the Supersonic Wave Filter (SSWF), module. You do not want to break anything here.
21
I'm not disassembling everything, just enough to get the job done. This means I need to hold the module assembly cupped in one hand the whole time. It's fiddly, but doable.
Remove the 4 screws (and brackets) at the four corners of the dust shield glass. They are quite stiff. I found I needed to exert quite a lot of downwards force initially, but once they started moving it was okay.
22
With the brackets removed, use your tweezers (avoid finger grease) to pull back the dust shield glass, like a book, towards the ribbon cables.
There is a black rubber gasket under this glass, that likes to stick to the glass. Gently peel it off as you lift the glass, and put it back down where it came from.
23
We're now looking directly at the hot mirror. It is, however, held in place with a really thin sheet metal frame. This frame extends into (and under) the rest of the module, and needs to be pulled out, one corner at a time, with your tweezers, until it comes free.
This will bend and distort. But I don't see how we can put it back in, so we aren't keeping it anyway. (If anyone knows of a replacement piece I'd love to hear about it.)
24
Under this frame is a little rectangle of black card. Remove it.
(I don't know if we need to keep this. I did, and put it back during reassembly. But it is loose, and moved. There's now a black shadow (a rectangular vignette) on my previews, but it is not visible in the photo files themselves. Iirc the camera takes an unexposed image when taking photos, and uses it to remove noise from the photo files. It seems to work well.)
25
Take your new piece of glass, and make sure it's clean and smudge-free.
Gently lift the old hot mirror out with your tweezers.
26
Gently put the new glass in its place. Make sure everything is clean and dust-free.
And you've done it! Now you just have to put everything back together again.
Do everything in reverse.
If everything goes well the camera will look just like it did before. Except for when you look at the hot mirror without a lens in place. With the original hot mirror you see the light filtering appearing as colour, typically red. With the clear glass that colour is gone.
Many hours after removing that first screw I was relieved to have my camera still working, and displaying very interesting colours. Green plants are orange. A sunny day is light orange. An overcast sky is reddish-orange. A snow filled sky is very pink. The evening sky is much brighter. And that's just with natural light. Candles burn purple-red. Does it really matter if I have two washers/spacers left over and no idea where they came from? *cough*
The next step for me is to get some external filters to see what else the world holds for my camera. And possibly some external (safe) UV/IR light sources, for more forensic explorations.
Front photo of an Olympus Pen E-P1
Photo by ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chebe
Firstly, what is a full spectrum camera? Basically, digital cameras are sensitive to more wavelengths on the electromagnetic spectrum than human eyes are. This makes their images look wrong, so the manufacturers put a filter (the hot mirror) in the cameras to remove the unwanted ultraviolet and infrared 'noise'. (Early mobile phone cameras didn't have this, back when you could use them to see if the LED on your remote controls lit up when you pressed a button.) But you can get some very interesting photos without this limitation.
And it seems a lot of people agree with me, because multiple businesses have started up to provide these conversions, and filters. Which makes things a whole lot easier for me. Now I can just buy the correct specific replacement glass for my camera from places like;
Kolari internal filters for DIY
Life Pixel internal filters for DIY
There is however a bit of a problem with the age of my camera. It has fallen out of the memory of the internet. I can no longer find the guides I had seen before. I did find Life Pixels E-P3 conversion tutorial, but the E-P3 is not exactly the same as the E-P1. I dug through some old forum links, and found Digital-Photography.pls E-P1/E-P2 conversion on The Way Back Machine. It has some good pointers, and high resolution images, but also a lot of 'like usual', 'like last time', and 'check my previous tutorials' (which also don't explain). Nonetheless, armed with both tutorials, I dived in, figured it out, and recorded the whole thing. What follows are (found footage) stills of my adventure. To make it easier for whomever follows. At their own peril.
Required tools
- Phillips head screwdriver, mine was size 1.4x40mm,
- Thin tweezers,
- Air blower,
- Soldering iron,
- Anti-static and safety precautions.
If changing the hot mirror, you'll need;
- the replacement glass,
- glass cleaning cloth.
Preparation
Remove the lens, battery, sd card, and hot shoe protector.
Case Disassembly
1
Starting from the base of the camera, remove 7 screws.
Lift the base off, mindful that the battery compartment door and hinges will come loose.
2
On the side of the camera with the cable connections door, remove 2 screws.
On the other side of the camera, remove 1 screw.
3
From the front, slide the two halves of the front case (split around the lens area) away from each other (and the lens area). (Pressing the lens-release button if needed.)
4
On the front, around the lens area, near the top of the case, remove 2 screws (and their tiny brackets).
5
On the side of the camera without the door, under the strap attachment point, remove 1 screw.
On the side of the camera with the door, under the strap attachment point, remove 1 screw (the one matching the screw removed on the other side). (There are other screws but they don't need to be removed.)
6
The hot shoe is made up of a few parts. The first one we need to remove is a thin sheet of black metal, the sides of which have spring-like arms keeping it braced under the curved thick metal edges.
Using a thin tweezers, grab this sheet through the cut-out over the small hole. Lift the sheet up towards the top of the curved metal edges (to compress the spring-like arms), and slide it out towards the back of the camera.
7
With that sheet removed more screws are revealed. Remove the 4 screws.
8
With those screws removed, we can lift away the curved metal edges piece.
And we can remove the piece below that as well.
9
From the back of the camera, just under the hot shoe, remove the 2 newly revealed screws.
10
With those screws removed, we can lift off the top part of the case, minding the pieces of buttons that come loose with it.
11
From the back of the camera, remove 4 screws near the four outer corners.
12
On either side of the camera gently lever up the two silver metal braces near the strap attachment points, and begin to ease the back off.
Another piece of the hot shoe will come loose as you do this.
Continue to ease the back off, gently, as the screen is internally connected to the body through a ribbon cable at the bottom-right.
13
Remove 1 screw that is securing this ribbon cable. Then unclip the ribbon cable connector, remove the cable, and put the back case to one side.
Body Disassembly
14
This is what the inside of the camera looks like. The main areas are the metal plate covered with ribbon cables, to the left, and the green circuit board, to the right.
The transition point between the two areas has four ribbon connectors, and one tiny ribbon cable soldered in place (instead of using a header). To separate the two areas we need to disconnect all of these.
15
First, desolder the single solder point. I found this required quite a high heat, but once hot enough it popped loose very easily.
Then unclip the four ribbon connectors next to the solder joint. I found the largest one awkward, and that the latch part was reversed (compared to the others). Its ribbon cable is also at a tighter angle than the others, making removing the cable more difficult as well. (Lift the three latches towards the green circuit board, lift the fourth away from the green circuit board.) And free the cables.
16
First, remove the black tape keeping the ribbon cables down. (I found removing the blue tape made later steps easier, but I don't think it's strictly necessary.)
There are four screws that we need to remove. Each of these four screws has a pair of washers/spacers on the underside of the metal plate. When you start lifting that plate out the washers/spacers will fall out. You need to keep these. And, annoyingly, replace them when re-assembling. They help keep the correct focal position. They're important.
The first two screws are readily accessible, on the metal plate, along the bottom of the camera, remove 2 screws.
17
The other screws are less accessible. You need to push the ribbon cables aside, and lift the blue tape near the top-right of the metal plate to find one. Remove 1 screw.
18
You need to push the ribbon cables aside, and lift the black tape near the top-left of the metal plate to find the other one. Remove 1 screw.
19
Back at the plate-circuit board division line, there is a little bracket. Remove 1 screw (and the little brackets that come with it).
20
Now, gently, begin to lift the metal plate assembly out from under all the ribbon cables.
Open it like a book, towards the green circuit board.
Keep track of all the washers/spacers that fall out.
This is the sensor, image stabiliser (with the springs), and the Supersonic Wave Filter (SSWF), module. You do not want to break anything here.
Hot Mirror Assembly Disassembly
21
I'm not disassembling everything, just enough to get the job done. This means I need to hold the module assembly cupped in one hand the whole time. It's fiddly, but doable.
Remove the 4 screws (and brackets) at the four corners of the dust shield glass. They are quite stiff. I found I needed to exert quite a lot of downwards force initially, but once they started moving it was okay.
22
With the brackets removed, use your tweezers (avoid finger grease) to pull back the dust shield glass, like a book, towards the ribbon cables.
There is a black rubber gasket under this glass, that likes to stick to the glass. Gently peel it off as you lift the glass, and put it back down where it came from.
23
We're now looking directly at the hot mirror. It is, however, held in place with a really thin sheet metal frame. This frame extends into (and under) the rest of the module, and needs to be pulled out, one corner at a time, with your tweezers, until it comes free.
This will bend and distort. But I don't see how we can put it back in, so we aren't keeping it anyway. (If anyone knows of a replacement piece I'd love to hear about it.)
24
Under this frame is a little rectangle of black card. Remove it.
(I don't know if we need to keep this. I did, and put it back during reassembly. But it is loose, and moved. There's now a black shadow (a rectangular vignette) on my previews, but it is not visible in the photo files themselves. Iirc the camera takes an unexposed image when taking photos, and uses it to remove noise from the photo files. It seems to work well.)
25
Take your new piece of glass, and make sure it's clean and smudge-free.
Gently lift the old hot mirror out with your tweezers.
26
Gently put the new glass in its place. Make sure everything is clean and dust-free.
And you've done it! Now you just have to put everything back together again.
Re-assembly
Do everything in reverse.
Result
If everything goes well the camera will look just like it did before. Except for when you look at the hot mirror without a lens in place. With the original hot mirror you see the light filtering appearing as colour, typically red. With the clear glass that colour is gone.
Original light filter creating a red colour
Photo by chebe
Clear glass filter with an absence of colour
Photo by chebe
Many hours after removing that first screw I was relieved to have my camera still working, and displaying very interesting colours. Green plants are orange. A sunny day is light orange. An overcast sky is reddish-orange. A snow filled sky is very pink. The evening sky is much brighter. And that's just with natural light. Candles burn purple-red. Does it really matter if I have two washers/spacers left over and no idea where they came from? *cough*
The next step for me is to get some external filters to see what else the world holds for my camera. And possibly some external (safe) UV/IR light sources, for more forensic explorations.