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?? Cameras??

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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After talking with my wife about the finances, I decided on the Olympus C5050 in the PT015 housing.

It should be here in a week or two so I can start playing with it.

Jon
 
Needless to say that I am quite envious...

As soon as you can, get yourself one of the wide angle lenses from either Inon or Epouqe - they have 100 degrees field of view - I have one and I shoot exlusively with it while underwater. The Inon is one of the sharpest pieces of glass I have ever worked with.

Enjoy the new toy - LOL
 
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Sea +Sea makes an adaptor ring that is suppossed to screw into the Olympus housing. They have them for all of their other housings and I imagine that it is just a matter of time before they make one for the PT015. The reason that I am going to wait for it is so that I can use all of the existing Sea+sea lenses that I already have. I know that my regualr strobes won't work with it, and instead of buying a new digital strobe, I was thinking about buying an HID light to use with it instead. That way I could have a light for diving and phtography all in one.
Another friend of mine brought his little 2 megapixel camera to Hockey last night and we used the video function to tape plays with. It worked out pretty well for what I want to do.
Plus, I have enough money left over to buy a new set of fins. I was thinking about C4's and was wondering if anyone had any ideas about which pair to get- 25's, 40's, or 80's.

Jon
 
Hold off for a review

Staff writer Paul Kotik is getting a pair to review - wait for his article before buying - he is an awesome freediver in his own right.
 
After talking with my wife about the finances, I decided on the Olympus C5050 in the PT015 housing
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The Olympus cameras are awesome but I can't say the same about their housings. They are junky and the optics are weak and won't do justice to the camera. Spend the extra dough and go with the tetra housings by Light & Motion. You won't be disapointed.
 
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The housing is a bit bulkier than I thought it would be. It will have to do for now.
I looked at the Tetra housings and didn't see any for the C5050. the housing looked nice and rugged, but they only have them for the earlier versions of the camera- at least from what I saw.

Jon
 

Well considering that I had 10 images published in a magazine from one of those so called "Junk Housing", I'd have to disagree with you - and I have been shooting images both personally and professionally for over 20 years...
 
and I have been shooting images both personally and professionally for over 20 years...
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Wow..., I've been a color separator, camera darkoom technician, photo retoucher, and print reproduction artist since 1985, and I know cr*p optics when I see them. But don't let me ruin your day. Its Friday. Suit yourself.

(edit) p.s. Are you sure your talking about the Olympus PT housings? ?????
 
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RELAX

Whoa there guys, you both need to take a step back and relax for a second. :ko

I think that you can actually both be right at the same time.:friday

I finally got my camera yesterday and started playing around with it. I bought the PT-015 housing because there was no Tetra housing for the camera when I bought it.
The Tetra housing looks pretty sweet, but it is also more than three times as much money! For that kind of cash I hope that it has better optics!

That doesn't mean that you can't get magazine quality photos out of a less expensive housing. In fact, I think that it actually proves just how far cameras, and their related technology, have come in the past decade. Heck, I have even seen some really nice photos come out of those cheap disposable cameras that you buy at the grocery store. :duh

I have had photos published as well. I know that a Nikonos V with a 15 mm Nikkor lens would have the best optics for what I do. Unfortunatly, I could only afford a Motormarine II with a 16 mm lens. Most would say that I don't have the camera quality I need to get great photos. The truth is that both of those cameras are better than anything that was around 20 years ago.

My 16mm lens even happens to have a huge scratch across the front of it - so much for optics.:duh
Somehow the surrounding water just fills it in so that I don't notice it. Many divers who have seen my lens are amazed that I take it underwater and I get the quality of photos that I do with it.

If I were shooting 64asa slide film on some bright reef I might notice the difference. I happen to be shooting shipwrecks in the Great Lakes with 100-400 asa film that don't show up those differences as much.

These days anyone can get a camera and take great photos. Anything that comes out sub-par can be touched up in Photoshop and saved.

In the end I might get a better housing for my camera, but in the short run I am more interested in learning how to use photoshop. That way I can make the most out what I have invested already.

Jon
 
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DiverD,

I'm pretty amateurish here, but I love to take pic after pic after pic and the results I've gotten from the olympus housing and my ikelite housing seem more than fine for me.

When you say "optics", I assume you're talking about the only lens piece on the housing. Isn't this just a 1:1 type lens? There doesn't seem to be any sort of shaping to it (convexity/concavity.. words?) so, for my question... how does such a simple piece of glass become a "good" or "bad" optic? Is there filtering involved? It's just that I've always thought of it as a clear piece of glass and if it's not, then I'd love to hear a bit more about them, if you don't mind sharing.

Thanks in advance,
Anderson
 
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(have to make this brief as work is hectic today) I originally bought a pt housing and loaded my C-2040 in it for dry land tests. The contact and manipulation the buttons made with the camera's controlls were inconsitent. Sometimes they would contact sometimes they would not. This included the shutter realease, hence the "Junky" comment, in all fairness I think they have made several revisions and maybe they have tightend up the fit. I made a few dry land shots and compared those to shots straight from the camera and the housed shots were markedly less clear and sharp then without the housing. I did not like this. Since in my area (US) the housings are sold in Japan packaging with no Official US distribution there are no way to return them if you don't like. Bummer, I bouth the Tetra and the dry land shots look the same housed as unhoused, hence the superior optics comment. If jon has a set of quality Sea and sea ports to put on the housing then I gues it makes no difference, I did not. I should have mentiotned that also. Sorry for so many ruffled feathers, although I'm not sure how a comment on a piece of equipment can be interpreted as a personal attack, never the less, I guess it was. :duh

(edit) P.S. andrsn, about the lens/glass, I don't know too much about glass and lens manufacture but I don't think the glass is just a simple piece of glass becouse it must withstand pressure of being underwater, the glass must come in grades of quality, etc. The poor focus could have resulted from the cameras inability to gather the TTL focus info, or maybe just poor grade of glass, I don't know, I relied only on my test shots so much of my opinion is purley subjective.
 
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Tetra housing

People were talking about Light and Motion coming out with a Tetra housing for the C5050 in the next couple of months.

I guess that they are taking pre-orders right now. The housing costs around $1,500.

That makes it 5 TIMES as much as my housing. I can buy a lot of memory, strobes and lenses for that price!

I think that I will stick with the PT015 for a while.

Jon
 

Bought my PT housing from Marine Camera in San Diego.

As anyone who shoots underwater knows that if you use a flat port to shoot wide angle, of course you are going to get crappy images - especially at the edges.

When I bought my housing, the first thing I bought for it was the INON 100 degree apo-chromatic lens that screws onto the front of the housing. Once in the water, I undo the lens a little to flood the air space between the glass port on the housing and the back element of the lens.

So far from what I have seen, it is as sharp as any prime lens I have shot with - and I have used Canon L series, Nikon ED and Leica 35mm lenses, Schneider and Nikon Large Format lenses as well as the occassional Hassleblad throughout my career.

So I could be wrong - or I got an exceptional find for my housing.
 
Actually Cliff I think you are right and I am worng. I went through all this over 18 months ago. My main gripe was that the buttons and shutter release did not consitently contact the camera controls. At the time I had never taken any photos underwater, and my camera experience is far greater in areas of room size reproduction cameras as opposed to 35mm. Upon retrospect I would think that the inconsistent contact wtih the shutter release was creating a situation where the focus lock was not quite where it should have been. I don't have any special lenses and actually have been shooting for over a year now with no strobes or external light source. Just natural lighting. Any thoughts an an inexpensive strobe I could buy? I need to expand my horizons and a strobe is my next step. My housing fits all the common makes like SeaNsea and Ikelite. The camera is an Olympus C-2040.
 

I agree with you on the issue with the function buttons - I have run into similar issues with my C2000's

As far as a strobe goes, I was on Marine Camera's website and they are carrying an inexpensive strobe made by Epoque that I will probably be looking into later this year. Here's the URL: http://www.marinecamera.com/strobe_epoque.html - The price is $200.00 plus another $50.00 for the tray arm - not a bad deal for a first strobe.

I too have been shooting available light images - I have 2 or 3 in the postcards section under freediving that I took with my current setup - one of them is being used in the DiveTech banner ad on the site. I shot B/W film for so long that I have learned how to take the curves function in Photoshop and convert it to a 10 point plot so that I have similar control to using the zone system - which I had been using for over 10 years.

I hope to be upgrading my cameras to at least C2040's a little later on this year.

(Sure would like that 5050 that Jon got his hands on :t )
 
I just found out that the adaptor ring from the older pt010 housing will work on my new housing!

That means that I can use all of my old Sea&sea lenses on the new housing!

One day I might spring for a new Inon lens, but this should last me for a while.

Jon
 
I hope to see some of these photo's that I know you will produce - especially with the 16mm lens.

Please start posting here when you get a chance - and let us know how you like your set up...
 
In response to Cliff wanting to buy a C2040; Cliff I've been wanting to buy a new C3040 but can't find a scource that sells these "older" models. If you have a scource please post it here. Thanks. (am trying to post an image but can't quite figure it out)
 

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It is gorgeous, I did my instructor training ou tthere almost 20 years ago. I have only been back twice and would like to go again.

I even tried spearing out there once a VERY long time ago- I was 14. It was a mess.

I didn't have an RXmask and no one told me what the rubber bungie thing was on the end of my pole spear!:duh

I maimed more fish on one dive than I care to admit. I swiched to photography after that, humiliating, experience.:waterwork

I would like to go back and try my hand at spearing again now that I actually know what the rubber bungie does.rofl

Where was that picture taken DiverD??

It reminds me of the Channel Islands because I remember the vis being a lot better out there than right off the beach.

Jon
 
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