Oly Shade Ring

[Divezilla]

Hi

I have an EM-5 with the Oly housing and a new Zen WA100 dome.
Currently, just the 14/42 lens.

Do you need the Oly shade ring ?

I've read that at will keep the internal flash from reflecting off the back of the dome/port.

I can see how this may happen .. but is it an issue in real practice?

Cheers

 

[SEMO Scuba]

Some Olympus Lenses have writing on the bezel that will reflect off of the dome and show up in your photos. The shade ring covers the writing on the bezel to prevent that.

 

[Divezilla]

Thanks
So a dark pencil or marker would work too?

 

[lofish]

I would not use a marker.. but I use non-marking tape..

 

[Furnari]

I use a 62mm step-up ring as it's much cheaper than the Oly piece. An added bonus is that if you step-up all your lenses to the same size, you can simplify your filter inventory, plus stack filters without vignetting. This is especially nice for landscape shots when you get the 9-18 (I'm assuming you want that lens if you have the dome).

 

[diversteve]

I don't own one but in a similar situation with a Sony once:

 

[Gdog]

YES....great post. Just got back from diving Crescent Lake, awesome vis, and in one of my best shots there is was...the reflection off the dome.

 

[gert7to3]

You could mask off the internal strobe along with using flat black tape over the lens information. Photographic gaffer's tape works well. Probably have to order it since almost every phot shop I can remember has gone out of business.

 

[Divezilla]

So .. if I understand now. The Shade does two things ...

1) The wide portion is about 62m wide and blocks extraneous light from the flash. A 62mm stepup would do the same.
2) The threaded portion is offset and a few mm wide. This blocks reflections from the labels on the front lens.

Marker and/or good tape can be used for #2 and probably mask the light box around the flash as well.
I have some 58mm filters. I was going to order some step up rings. Would 58mm be adequate to block the flash? Is 62mm the optimum ?

Thanks for the help folks
W

 

[Furnari]

Tough to say if 58mm would be enough without trying it, but masking the light box couldn't hurt. I'm not familiar with the E-M5 housing, but I know my E-M1 housing light box is more restrictive than the one in my old PEN housing. Another possibility would be to add a tape "flange" around the 58mm step ring, further sealing off the port from the housing. Lastly, dialing back the onboard flash to the lowest setting also helps by minimizing the light that gets to the dome.