I rather like shooting long exposures with my Olympus EM10ii, but weary of the wireless shutter release because it means turning on wifi, and consuming power where it isn't necessary.
The official wired cable is around 50USD (about 70CAD), and I'm not keen to spend that much.
Is this something that you would go with third party? or have you guys encountered any nightmares?
Have a look at the cheap eBay intervalometers - they let you do very long exposures (using bulb mode on the camera) and also work as a normal remote release.
I have one for my Nikon DSLR - It was around £12 or so, and (other than having a camera cable with an inline mini jack connector so you could use the same device with different camera connectors) it's virtually identical to the official Nikon version I had before (which was £100+). Functionality and display are identical, and the housing looks the same apart from branding, so I suspect that Nikon OEMed theirs from the same source.
I've also had a few standard wired remote releases. The branded ones are usually more expensive, but the third party ones worked fine. Only real difference was that sometimes the branded version had a nicer camera connector (in the case of my Nikon, the branded one had a screw on retaining ring, while the (far cheaper) third party one didn't - but worked fine anyway.
But given that the intervalometers aren't much more expensive than a standard release, and can be used as a standard release, that's what i'd go for. Just make sure you get the correct one for your camera model (Nikon have used a couple of different connectors for their cameras).
I have several cheap $5 remote shutter releases for canon cameras. Never had a problem with them. Releasing a shutter remotely is such a simple operation, I can't image a 3rd party tool will cause any problems.
The plugs are all different, but the actual function of wired remotes are remarkably alike (with the lone exception of Panasonic - we'll get to that in a minute). Regardless of the interface used to connect the camera and wired remote, they are all pretty much simple three wire switches with a ground, a wire for 'half-press/focus', and a wire for 'fire'. The Panasonic connector only uses two wires and resistors to communicate the two different functions. It's all covered on this DIY blog.
For your Olympus E-M10 Mark II, this one or this one seems to fit the bill. This one and this one include built-in intervalometers.
There have been a few remotes with built in intervalometers offered in the past that include detachable cables for pretty much every major camera type on the market. The same remote is offered by a plethora of sellers with one of a wide variety of connectors attached.
For a more in-depth answer please this one to Is there a good remote timer compatible with most Nikon and Canon (and Pentax and Sony) cameras?
Regarding the user experience, I've had the same third party wired release with built in intervalometer for at least five years and it still works fine. I've used a few of the simpler generic wired shutter release cords with just a two-stage button that slides to lock. I had one that the connector to the camera came apart after a few uses but the others worked fine (at least until I managed to lose most of them). I discuss this a bit more in this answer.
Ignore the complaints in reviews on sites such as amazon.com about having to remove the batteries from the ones with built-in timers because you can't turn them off. They are like a digital watch: as long as the alarm isn't constantly beeping the batteries will last for years. In the case of the remote, be sure it is not running/counting down and actively trying to trigger the shutter periodically when you store it. You do this by setting the length and interval to "0" and the number to "1", then hold the 'lock' button until the "L" appears in the lower left of the lcd display. Even with no batteries the manual shutter button is still usable with most wired remotes with built-in intervalometers, you just can't use the timer part of it.
I had a cheap no name release that was perfectly fine, but if my camera has offered the wireless option I would have stuck with that since there's no extra cost and it's just a hobby. If I was serious about long exposure I'd pay for the branded version for the assurance of durability and reliability.
I have used a £10 Chinese release that has delay, timer and intervalometer functions for a few years. The only problem I've had is that the cable has developed a fault over time, either a broken wire or connection. This is likely from wrapping the cable up in my bag or possibly from dropping it and leaving the remote dangling. However for the price when it breaks you can just buy another.
It's nearing 2020 and my cheapo release has been acting up again. I don't use it often, but it seems a wire broke about 20cm from the unit, whereby the release wouldn't trigger without a bit of cable wiggling. Given that the cable was probably about 60cm long, I decided to cut it off and re-solder the connection. A relatively simple job that took less than 1/2 an hour, but it revealed one reason why these items are so cheap. The copper wires in the cable are very thin and liable to break with a bit of abuse.
I should add my camera is an Olympus E-520. Olympus' own cable release the RM-UC1 is listed as being
Compatible with the following models: SP-510UZ, SP-550UZ, SP-560UZ, SP-5655UZ, SP-570UZ, SP-590UZ, EP-1, EP-2, E-PL2, E-P3, E-PL3, E-PM1, E-410, E-510, E-520, E-620, E-30, E-M5, E-M10, E-M1, XZ-1, XZ-2, Stylus 1, SP-100EE, SH-60, SH-50, SH-1, SZ-31MR, SZ-30MR, SZ-20, SZ-14, SZ-11, SZ-10, SH-21, SH-25.
Note: It does NOT work with the E-PL1
http://www.getolympus.com/us/en/remote-cable-release-rm-uc1.html
