Updating your Olympus/OM System Camera Firmware without Olympus Workspace – Updated 2024 !

Attention Olympus and OM System Camera Users:

The LightSnowDev firmware SD Card update tool is no longer operational, even via their new page.

But don’t worry—there’s another way!

Important Disclaimer

The following method is entirely at your own risk. I tested it today on an older camera, and it worked perfectly. However, there’s no guarantee that your camera won’t unexpectedly fail and turn into an expensive paperweight. Proceed with caution—you’ve been warned.

The Method

This approach is quite similar to LightSnowDev’s tool. However, instead of pre-renamed files provided by the original developer, you’ll need to rename them yourself.

Downloading the Firmware Updates

I found a list of firmware updates for Olympus/OM System cameras here:
Mu-43 Firmware List. – or go directly to Google Docs here : Olympus/OM Firmware locations

Download the appropriate .BIN file to your computer and rename it according to the required format name in the table.

For example:
Rename 0001/0680/OLY_E_068_1402_0000_0000.BIN to E0689999.BIN to E0689999.BIN

The Update procedure as I performed it :

• Check your current firmware version : go to menu -> spanner menu (wrench) -> firmware or software version
• Download the required firmware version from the link above
• Format an SD card in your camera – on your computer, create the folder DCOLYMP on the SD card
• Rename the downloaded firmware update file according to the naming in the table
• Copy the renamed file to the DCOLYMP folder on the SD card
• As a result, your SD card should now contain a folder named DCOLYMP, with inside the renamed firmware update
• Make sure the camera has a fully charged battery !
• Make sure the camera is turned off and insert the prepared SD card into the camera
• Press the “OK” button, turn on the camera, then release the “OK” button
• Your camera will turn on with a black screen, and the LED on the front of your camera will be orange
• Put your camera down safely and don’t touch it anymore – very important: never turn it off !
• Wait for the LED to blink quickly – the update is now complete.
• Turn off the camera
• Turn the camera back on, go to the menu, scroll down to spanner (wrench) menu on your camera, scroll down to firmware version or software version

Important Suggestion

Do you own an Olympus camera but feel hesitant to perform a firmware update right now? Perhaps you’re simply not ready or prefer to wait for another time. Or maybe the OM System updater works flawlessly on your computer, and you think this alternative method isn’t necessary – however, these things can change.

Either way, I strongly recommend the following steps:

1. Download the relevant firmware updates to your computer now, even if you don’t plan to use them immediately.
2. Copy the provided Doc file (with instructions and details) to your computer for future reference.

With all the firmware updates stored locally and the accompanying table offering download links and renaming instructions, you’ll always have a reliable fallback. This ensures that, should the standard update method ever fail on your computer, you’ll still have a solution at hand.