About this replacement
Olympus OM SYSTEM OM-1 — 7.2V Li-ion Replacement Battery (BLX-1)
This is a 7.2V, 2260mAh Li-ion replacement for the Olympus BLX-1 battery. It fits the OM SYSTEM OM-1 mirrorless camera, powering the imaging sensor, autofocus system, electronic viewfinder, and in-body image stabilisation. Capacity is 2260mAh (16.27Wh) — matching the original BLX-1 specification.
- OM SYSTEM OM-1 compatibility: The OM-1 uses a single BLX-1 cell to power all major subsystems — the stacked BSI sensor, quad-core processor, and 5-axis IBIS — from one 7.2V rail. This replacement matches that voltage and connector configuration to seat correctly in the battery compartment.
- Bench tested on actual hardware: We ran this cell through charge and discharge cycles on the OM-1 body. The BMS accepted the battery after one full charge via the OEM charger, and the battery-remaining indicator tracked consistently across the discharge curve.
- First-use charge cycle on the OM-1: Run a full charge cycle through the OEM charger or camera body before shooting. The OM-1's BMS maps its battery-percentage display to a calibrated discharge curve — skipping this step can cause the indicator to report inaccurately from the first frame.
Why the OM-1 draws harder than its shot-count spec suggests
Olympus rates shot count under CIPA conditions, which uses a standardised mix of flash and non-flash exposures at moderate settings. The OM-1's computational photography modes — including live ND, high-res shot, and subject-detection AF — each add processing load beyond CIPA assumptions. Continuous shooting with the electronic shutter at high frame rates keeps the stacked sensor and processor under sustained load, pulling more current per frame. Any combination of these features will reduce shot count below the published figure, which is expected behaviour, not a cell defect.
Battery percentage jumping erratically on the OM-1 display
This happens when the camera's BMS hasn't completed its voltage-threshold mapping on a new cell. The OM-1 builds its percentage display by interpolating voltage against a stored discharge curve — a new cell with no calibration history causes the indicator to jump between thresholds rather than step down smoothly. One full charge-to-discharge cycle inside the OM-1 body lets the BMS record accurate voltage landmarks. After that cycle, the percentage readout stabilises and tracks normally through subsequent charges.